Chapter 6: My Stepmother's Friends 1!

But Jiang Tiansheng's version certainly wouldn't have been this clean; if three out of ten sentences were true, that would already be good enough. So when the story reached his mouth, it became his younger brother refusing to accept Jiang Zhen's deathbed arrangements, openly breaking away from Hongxing, even having an affair with his stepmother and taking her away with him. Seducing another man's wife had thus become a major taboo in Hongxing and in the entire underworld.

But he and Jiang Tianyang were, after all, biological brothers, so in the end he closed one eye, showed mercy, and let them off. He never expected Jiang Tianyang to steal the Black Iron Token, though, so Hongxing no longer had the token in hand. If they wanted to hold the Jianghu Giants Ranking Battle, someone had to go find Jiang Tianyang and appeal to him emotionally and reason with him.

At the end, Jiang Tiansheng deliberately stressed again: "Haonan, you should know Hongxing's situation now. Dongxing and the other gangs are getting more and more restless. If we still can't hold the Jianghu Giants Ranking Battle smoothly this year, the entire Hong Kong underworld may soon descend into total chaos."

Liang Kun's power was growing bigger and bigger now, and his manner had become increasingly arrogant and overbearing. Long ago he had stopped taking the other brothers, or even Jiang Tiansheng, seriously.

And over at Hongxing's mortal enemy, Dongxing, they were even more eager to make a move. Chen Haonan knew very clearly that everything Jiang Sheng had said could happen at any time, and that the universally accepted Jianghu Giants Ranking Battle really was the best and only proper way to deal with those potential threats.

Under Jiang Tiansheng's smooth-talking, Chen Haonan took on the difficult job, planning to go personally to Thailand to find Jiang Tianyang and make him hand over the Black Iron Token so the Jianghu Giants Ranking Battle could be held again.

What Chen Haonan didn't know was that one of Liang Kun's men had long since been planted at Jiang Tiansheng's side and had directly leaked this crucial piece of news. Jiang Tiansheng actually knew all along that the man was Liang Kun's subordinate; as for what he truly thought, only he himself knew best.

Li Changsheng didn't care about any of that. He was utterly indifferent to the life and death of those small-time hoods and punks. If this hadn't been a trial task given to him by his master, he couldn't be bothered to pay attention at all. In any case, if he saw the Black Iron Token, he'd step in and preside over the new Jianghu Giants Ranking Battle; if he didn't, then do whatever you want, because it had nothing to do with him.

Early that morning, right after he finished practicing tai chi with his father in the courtyard, Li Changsheng walked back into the house and literally collided with Zhou Huimin, whose bright, gentle eyes, soft long hair, and voice like a songbird's made her stand out immediately.

"S-sorry... you're Li Changsheng, right?"

"Hello. Are you my sister-in-law's friend?"

"N-no, I'm Sister Xin's friend. Hello, my name is Zhou Huimin. You can call me Sister Min, or you can call me Vivian."

Zhou Huimin's features, taken one by one, weren't especially standard. The key to her whole look actually lay in a single word: bitter. Seen purely by her face, there was something a little hard and sorrowful about her, but once you put her features together with her unique temperament, she gave off a pitifully endearing air.

But anyone who had actually spent time with Zhou Huimin would know that she simply looked that way; she wasn't some fragile, sickly beauty. On the contrary, she was full of vitality, loved working out, blazed with energy onstage, and was one of the hottest young pop queens in Chinese-language music.

Li Changsheng wasn't blind or deaf. How could he not know the famous queen of the pure-girl image, Zhou Huimin? But he still didn't show much excitement. So what if it was Zhou Huimin? He was a body of pure primordial yang qi; before he successfully formed the core and entered the Heaven-Human realm, he absolutely could not have sex. Who knew how long that would take? To him, women were nothing more than pretty skeletons, and he wouldn't get too attached. What mattered more than women? Immortality.

"It's fine. Just be more careful next time."

After saying that, Li Changsheng went straight upstairs to his room to read and seek enlightenment. He had no intention of staying behind to chat up Zhou Huimin any further; from start to finish he gave off a very aloof air, making him rather hard to approach.

"How was it? Any reaction?"

"I told you not to do it in the first place. You made me so embarrassed just now. He really is a bookworm who's read himself stupid, isn't he? He couldn't even be bothered to talk to me for long."

"Could he have just been shy and embarrassed?"

"Doesn't look like it to me."

"Speaking of which, your bargain son is really something. Sharp brows, bright eyes, well-defined features, an excellent bone structure and skin, and his three key facial proportions are all spot on. He's basically flawless from every angle, with not a single defect or weak point on his face. His temperament is excellent too. He looks downright delicious. Why don't you let me take him in hand and teach him a few things?"

Seeing her friends get more and more outrageous, even licking their lips and swallowing hard as though they were already getting a little lust-drunk, Li Jiaxin hurriedly cut them off. "Enough. Stop talking nonsense. Jokes are jokes, but mind your manners. He's your junior. I asked you all here today to help me think of a way to solve the problem, not to come here and appraise our Changsheng. What I need to do now is win Changsheng's recognition and become his mother, not drag you here to set him up on blind dates. Our Changsheng wouldn't even look at a group of old ladies like you."

Guan Zhilin curled her lip with obvious disdain. She even faintly felt a wildly bold and absurd idea taking shape: so you dare call me an old lady? Just wait and see how I punish your precious son later.

Zhang Min and Wang Zuxian, who had finally found time to come over for a visit, just sat there quietly drinking their afternoon tea. They had no intention of getting involved, and no way to get involved either.

But that boy Li Changsheng really did look delicious. He was genuinely handsome and striking, so good-looking he didn't even seem like the son of that old man, and he didn't look all that much like his father at all.

"By the way, have you found any clues about Changsheng's birth mother, Sister Xin?"

"No. I heard she used to be your husband's lover, but after she gave birth to Changsheng, her health kept getting worse. A few years later she passed away, so the old man brought Changsheng home to raise him, and because of that he even had a terrible fight with his wife back then."