Chapter Ninety-Six: Visitors from the Southern Desert, the Two Provinces Gather Together!!! Fifth Update

"Ma Tianzong? The richest man?" someone asked in a low voice.

Another gave a bitter smile. "In Jiangbei, the only one who dares call himself the richest man is Ma Tianzong."

And then there was Gu Feifei. In this city, no one had not heard of her.

A month earlier, Huating, Jiangbei's largest entertainment company, had suddenly announced that its former chairman, Xu Changming, was too advanced in years to continue bearing the strain of the business. He therefore stepped down, and the new chairman to take over the company was none other than the nationally beloved star Gu Feifei.

The reputation of these two alone was worth more than dozens of tycoons.

The Jiang family wore a hundred different expressions as they helplessly made their way toward the door. For magnates of this caliber, they had to go out personally to receive them.

Among the many powerful men present, the highest net worth did not exceed a few dozen billion. As for the Xia family, it had long been split into two branches, and the only family that had once been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ma Tianzong had already lost the glory of its former name.

Internal strife had eaten away at the Xia family over the years, leaving it much diminished. In truth, Ma Tianzong now stood as Jiangbei's richest man, ranked twenty-seven on the Forbes Global Billionaires List, with a fortune of more than eighty billion.

In ordinary times, he would not even bother to come to a small place like Jincheng.

Jiang Yun's face was blank as he folded his hands lightly and said, "Jiang Yun pays his respects to the richest man, Ma."

Ma Tianzong nodded, gave a soft acknowledgment, then stopped in his tracks and sighed. "Jiang Yun, do you know what the Jiang family has lost? You all only guessed that Jiang Yu might have some standing, but you have no idea that the Jiang Yu of today has already climbed to the very summit."

"The true dragon of your Jiang family was lost because of your ignorance."

Jiang Yun drew a deep breath. He no longer wished to speak.

"Jiang Yu, Jiang Yu. You really did give us a great gift. It's a pity my Jiang family has no fortune to receive it."

It was too late to realize how shallow their vision had been.

These past few days, Jiang Shaoqi had been suppressing a mouthful of anger. On the surface he seemed no different from any ordinary man, but that breath had been lodged in his chest all this time, unable to come out.

Now rage and blood surged to his heart; agitated and with nowhere to vent it, he suddenly tasted sweetness in his throat. He opened his mouth and spat out a vivid mouthful of blood, splashing red across the floor.

He staggered back two steps, then roared in frenzy, "Impossible. I'm the dragon of the Jiang family. Jiang Yu, tell them this is all fake!"

Zheng Xuan burst into tears and steadied Jiang Shaoqi in her arms. The two of them clung to each other like a pair of ruined lovers, wordless and miserable.

The whites of Jiang Shaoqi's teeth had long since been stained red with blood.

What had once seemed a trivial nobody, a nameless junior he had assumed could never stir up much trouble, had now transformed in an instant into a figure above all of Jiangbei's wealthy elite. Such a height, even if one spent a lifetime striving, could only be looked up to from below.

Who could bear such a blow?

No one mocked Jiang Shaoqi. By now, he was humiliation enough.

With dozens of magnates standing before them, who still had the right to laugh?

"Jiang Yu, is this all you have? Show me whatever cards you still hold; today I, Zheng Xuan, will take them all on!"

Zheng Xuan screamed herself hoarse, tears streaking her face.

Jiang Yu turned his head slightly and said calmly, "Can you still take this card?"

Zheng Xuan cried out in a broken voice, "Is that all you're capable of? Didn't you want to make me look miserable on the day of the wedding? I'm already like this now. What else do I have left to lose?"

"After today, everyone in Jiangbei will know that my Zheng family was blind, and that we let a son-in-law fit for a dragon slip away. Do you understand? It's only Jiangbei. I'm not afraid of you."

Jiang Ziyue stood up and silently took Zheng Xuan into her arms.

Ma Tianzong shook his head and said no more. Together with Gu Feifei, he walked to stand behind Jiang Yu.

"Tianzong."

"Feifei."

The two spoke at once. "Greetings, Teacher."

Teacher?

He Bing lowered her head, and the smile at the corners of her mouth held too much to be easily described.

Even Jiangbei's richest man had to call Jiang Yu Teacher?

At that moment, she seemed to understand why Wang Yuanshan and Huang Shiyi had shown Jiang Yu such reverence at school that day. It even explained why Old Yin had personally made an appearance.

Jiang Yu, your hidden card is far too big. Too big for anyone to take it on.

The wealthy men behind them hurriedly greeted one another. "So you're the richest man, Ma. You really were hiding this well."

Ma Tianzong beamed. "You should be speaking of yourselves. You all came running here fast enough, as if your feet were greased. I thought I was already quick, but it seems you were even faster."

Everyone exchanged smiles and said nothing.

Ma Tianzong took a deep breath. "Let it end with Jiangbei, then."

Jiang Yu frowned as well. The situation today seemed to have slipped somewhat beyond his control. Jiangbei had already gathered here in full force; at this rate, if word spread, perhaps even the tycoons of Monan would be stirred into action.

He did not want to cause a sensation of such magnitude.

In the end, Jiang Yu had still underestimated the allure of elixirs, magic instruments, and even cultivation methods to these people.

"After today, I may attract a lot of attention. Being too conspicuous is not ideal."

Jiang Yu lifted his eyes and looked at the nearly fifty magnates behind him.

"Jiang Yu, did you hire actors from somewhere else? How could a poor nobody like you possibly attract so many wealthy men?"

His second aunt seemed mad with rage as she shrieked and rushed over.

Li Hao stepped forward and said coldly, "Don't mistake the teacher's mercy toward the Jiang family for a card that gives you free rein. If you had spoken to me like this somewhere else, I would already have crippled you."

Jiang's second aunt did not know those tycoons, but she remembered Li Hao's face very clearly.

Ma Tianzong smiled and shook his head. "I could crush the Jiang family with cash alone today. Would you like to try?"

Many faces around them were already smiling.

Jiang Yu looked at his second aunt and said indifferently, "Even after seeing all this with your own eyes, you still don't believe it?"

His second aunt collapsed to the ground, sobbing and sniffling, and no one dared speak up for her.

Today, he stood atop Jiangbei and looked down upon the world with a smile.

...

At the entrance of the hotel, two valet attendants sat on a flower planter with cigarettes hanging from their lips.

"Damn, I'm beat. Who the hell were all those people just now?" one of them asked curiously, staring at the luxury cars worth well over a million each, some even over ten million.

As valet attendants, they knew that the Zheng family of Jincheng was holding a wedding today. At first, there had indeed been many high-end cars, but they were limited to the usual BMWs and Audis, or at most Maseratis and Ferraris.

But half an hour ago, a flood of ultra-luxury cars had suddenly rolled in.

He had spent the entire half hour parking them, and the most expensive one seemed to be a foreign brand called Koenigsegg.

His companion's expression was grave. "I know a few of them. Liu Huaian from Huai City, Li Hao from Cloud City, and several tycoons from Yuzhou. I've seen them on television before."

The first man became even more curious. "Huai City, Cloud City, Yuzhou... and there seem to be a few from Jincheng as well. These people's influence spans all of Jiangbei."

His companion nodded. "You could put it that way. The magnates who came today are enough to represent all of Jiangbei."

The cigarette in the man's mouth fell to the ground.

He stared in a daze. Not knowing better, one might have thought some foreign royal had arrived. But even so, was it really enough to shake all of Jiangbei like this?

Just as he was about to speak, his companion threw away his cigarette. "Stop smoking. More people are coming."

The man tossed his cigarette aside and quickly stood up. He saw a Rolls-Royce Wraith easing slowly into the driveway. Working this job had given him one habit: whenever he saw a luxury car, he liked to glance at the license plate.

He had been fine not looking, but the moment he did, his whole body went cold with shock.

A Monan plate?

The Mo-A prefix was the standard plate designation for Monan Province.

His companion had clearly noticed it too, and in extreme shock said, "Damn it, we just finished talking about Jiangbei and now cars from Monan are already here?"

The man lowered his voice. "Something big is about to happen. Stop talking and park the cars."

While the two were still working, several more luxury cars with Monan plates drove in behind the Rolls-Royce Wraith, seven or eight at once.

His companion picked up the walkie-talkie with a solemn face. "Manager, a large number of luxury cars from Monan have arrived outside. We're short-handed. Send over a few waiters."

The answer came back: "Figure it out yourselves. The manager is upstairs with those tycoons. Wait—what did you just say? Cars from Monan?"

"Are you crazy? Monan is nearly fifteen hundred kilometers from here."

The man rubbed his eyes. "Manager, those cars really do have Monan plates."

In the end, only two words came back: "Wait there."

Before long, several waiters ran out.

Each of them wore a wonderfully complicated expression as they exclaimed, mouths agape, "What's going on today? Even the rooftop seats aren't enough anymore. Our hotel owner has been alarmed."

The car stopped, and a middle-aged man got out. He did not hurry away, but instead looked back at the cars behind him and laughed heartily. "Mo Yu, you lot are certainly fast."

The window of an Audi A8 rolled down, and the man called Mo Yu cursed with a grin, "Get lost. I've been driving for two days straight before I even got here. Those old fossils are probably about to reach Jincheng by now."