This was Mou Gu's Family Diner and it happened to be one of the places that Bo Lifen could eat without any pressure—most of the people who ate here didn't mind if she had her hair up in a ssy bun and looked like she walked out of a broom closet. Which she may or may not have technically done.
But being caught in this pose by soone who was actually richer than her made her a little embarrassed right now. She swallowed her food and tried to speak again but was beat to it by a certain eager pink-haired bisexual cultivation chef.
"Oh, look who it is!" Mou Gu turned around eagerly and pointed finger guns at Li Yang. "It's the man of the hour!"
"Ah, yes. Just the one that I'm looking for."
Bo Lifen watched the expression on his face and looked like she was holding back her laughter. Out of all the people in the restaurant, she was the only one paying attention.
Most of the people who were actually eating in the place were those who worked long hours and were just eager for a hot al—they ignored the chef's outburst.
"It's been a long ti. What can I do for you? Are you hungry, want a free dinner, it's on the house." Mou Gu rubbed his chin and then just snapped his fingers. "Okay thank the visitor, guys—the food's on the house for everyone eating tonight."
Now that was what made the people perk up in the restaurant.
Li Yang didn't mind footing the bill, but that wasn't exactly what Mou Gu ant. Instead he glanced around the place furtively and didn't take a seat at once. His errand here had nothing to do with Bo Lifen at all, so he just greeted her with a nod. "Good evening, Miss Lifen."
"Oh, you know Lifen too?" Mou Gu gave the two of them so looks and imdiately noticed the air around him. Nobody exactly asked him, but if this pink-haired guy was asked about his opinion—he was rooting for Ying Yue He. Just a tad more.
"We're acquainted through my great-grandmother." Bo Lifen explained with a simple shrug.
"Ahhh…" Mou Gu nodded. "Do you know that Bo Lifen here is the manager of Heavenly—"
"Yes, I know that she works and owns the tea shop." Li Yang replied as he stood right where he was. He crossed his arms together and shrugged a bit. "I almost had a eting there with my client."
"That's cool, really cool. Small world, huh?"
"Certain affinity perhaps," Bo Lifen said, albeit she finally turned back to her rice bowl al. "But please don't let interrupt the conversation between the two of you."
This was what happened when they were with other people—Li Yang and her seed to imdiately pretend as if they were just reluctant friends at best. Compared to maybe Taiga, the tigress spirit would be more happy and eager to introduce herself as close with him.
"Okay, so wanna talk in the back?" Mou Gu jerked a thumb behind him.
Li Yang stared at the door. "...your backroom?"
"My dirty kitchen—well, it's kind of cramped, but that's where I do my cooking." Mou Gu imdiately opened the door and welcod him in. "My family owned this restaurant since I was a kid and it never got renovated to expand."
"I see."
The two cultivators entered the kitchen, not noticing the expression on Bo Lifen's face as the door shut behind them. While she could probably listen in if it were an ordinary house… the kitchen was sound proof.
What exactly were the two going to talk about?
Bo Lifen wondered, but it was none of her business at all.
"Do you know where Ying Yue He is?" Li Yang decided to get straight to the point.
The chef paused for a mont and then shook his head. "Not at all—I was actually curious if she had been with you. It's been awhile since she ate here and she doesn't even visit the Shen Society to train with us anymore."
How did that happen?
Li Yang's brows furrowed together as he stared at the chef. "Why would she just suddenly go off the radar and join a rival company?"
"Join a rival, what?"
"Liu Group."
"Wait, did you just say Liu Group?" The smile on Mou Gu's face disappeared at his words.
"Do you know about them? I am not aware if they have any underground activities, although thinking about it now… there were suspicions about this family." Li Yang frowned. "Ying Yue He went on a retreat according to her landlady and didn't seem to return for the past months at all. A mountain retreat of sorts, company paid."
"She may have been discovered by Liu's n and recruited in their organization—they've got a taphorical slice of the pie in Shanghai and other locations."
"Are you telling that they're a cultivator organization like the Shen's?" Li Yang asked.
"Yeah, they're… I don't want to be the one who says it, but they've got the control of the more unsavory parts of the province. They manage it well." Mou Gu crossed his arms with a shrug. "It's a tense relationship. You know, making a temporary alliance with your arch nesis to beat a bigger bad guy? That's what happened."
"I see—well, all I really care about is seeing Ying Yue He." Li Yang sighed. "But I suppose these network connections in the cultivator world might be relevant to and provide a better perspective on how things work?"
"Er… maybe." Mou Gu scratched his head. "Depending on how deep she got into the hierarchy of the Liu's Group—we could get out of there with Ying Yue He without breaking a sweat or having to make a deal."
"Make a deal? Even in this situation?" Li Yang scoffed and then just clicked his tongue. "All I simply want to do is to see Ying Yue He… if she's currently preoccupied there and think that's where she needs to be, then it's her decision. I'll respect that."
The knowledge that at least two of the most prominent family nas in their country had dealings with the supernatural and cultivation world made him feel… surprised. It seed like it was inaccurate to say that their world was separate from the normal one.
"You don't want her to be there at all." Mou Gu raised his hand.
"Why? What's wrong there?"
Mou Gu gave him a grimace.
"Maybe she gets powerful there—but they just don't raise people with the talent for cultivation. They're given dangerous tasks in exchange just to make up for it. So are made to recover ancient scrolls and items no longer capable of being reproduced in cultivator-destroying temples, given assassination missions to take out competitors. You don't want her there."
Ying Yue He… his secretary joined a group like that?
Did she know what she was doing? Li Yang was afraid that wasn't the case at all. "Then I take back my words—we need to go there and have her removed from that group at all costs."
"All costs? You an monetary and not a fight to the death situation, right?"
"If the person in charge of this organization is part of the Liu Group then perhaps we can just settle."
"... maybe, maybe that could work," Mou Gu said. "Or they'll attempt to suck you dry."
"Let's just go there for a visit and see how it will work." Li Yang decided. "If they're an organization then there's still a semblance of structure within that group and we can make an agreent. I don't think it'll have to co to that, didn't you say that we might also leave without breaking a sweat?"
"If Ying Yue He isn't actually a useful piece—they'd be willing to part with her. But who knows? Maybe she's just actually working on the legitimate and public side of the Liu Group? The actual company and not the black market."
"They're the ones in charge of the black market?"
"Like I said—the unsavory parts. Well, the market isn't that bad… not everything of it is. But you got to know that there are certain principles that didn't change with the tis."
Li Yang clicked his tongue. "What are you trying to say? Don't go about this in a roundabout manner and just tell what's the real situation that we'll have to deal with."
"They unearthed ancient scrolls that may or may not have accidentally summoned old evil master spirits that tried to wipe out humanity when they were released, they perform so experint son so nastier sides of cultivation… and well, slavery. You know, to have uh humans for said experintations? They don't really call it slavery as more of a servanthood—the bottom ranks of their organization if you will. Serving for the good of everyone within the group yadayada?"
"You call that unsavory?" Li Yang stared at the chef blankly. "You were making blatant excuses—give the address to where their 'mountain retreats' or headquarters is to get Ying Yue He out of there. I'm going now."
"Hold up, you just can't go there suddenly!" Mou Gu's eyes widened and he tried to appease the man. "That's not a good idea, let's talk about this more carefully and find a way to make an arrangent as you said. It took a couple of decades before the Liu Group, Shen Society and other cultivation sects were able to co to an arrangent that didn't exactly make them want to destroy each other at once. You just can't undo that."
"Just when I thought that ho was a little better than Telriah, I find out about this."
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