Chapter 411 A Small Trick!
At this moment, seeing this scene. Zhou Qin, Zi Yuan, and Feng Na, who were serving as hostesses, felt embarra.s.sed and also wanted to laugh.
However, they did not dare to show amus.e.m.e.nt at the scene in front of them, so they could only force themselves to refrain from laughing and look steadily forward. They gritted their teeth, tensed their faces, and put on bitter, hateful expressions.
In contrast, Li Yundong"s cla.s.sic joke about the file and k.u.mquats made Zhou Qin and Feng Na burst out laughing at the same time, but they quickly stifled themselves and put on straight faces while the corners of their mouths twitched.
Only Zi Yuan remained truly calm. She looked up at the sky with a serene face, but Ruan Hongling, who was most familiar with her, could see that Zi Yuan"s hand was gripping the satin tightly, and her shoulders were slightly shaking, as if she was holding back laughter.
Li Yundong"s loud yell made Su Chan lower her head. She looked aggrieved and whispered, "Because I couldn"t find anything else to replace it with. This is all your fault! You forced me to do it!"
Li Yundong took a deep breath and thought, "Oh, so it"s my fault now!?"
Li Yuanbo also tried his best to hold back his laughter as he asked, "Li, what"s wrong?"
Li Yundong smiled hollowly. "Never mind, Secretary Li. Let"s cut the ribbons as planned!"
Li Yuanbo pointed to the file in Li Yundong"s hand and laughed, "I have cut many ribbons. but it"s the first time I"ve seen anyone attempt to do it in this way. Very creative!"
Li Yundong heard what he said, and was suddenly struck with some ideas. He smiled, "Secretary Li, do you mind if I perform a little trick for you?"
Li Yuanbo asked curiously, "A trick? Li, you know how to do tricks?"
"It"s nothing impressive, just good for amusing Secretary Li."
Li Yuanbo laughed, "Then by all means, allow me to see what kind of trick it is!"
Li Yundong raised the file in his hand and pa.s.sed it to Li Yuanbo. "Secretary Li, look at this. Is this a normal file?"
Li Yuanbo suddenly grinned and said, "I don"t need to look at it. It"s a normal file for sure!"
"Since it"s a file, Secretary Li, won"t you try to see if it can cut this satin?"
"Hah, of course, it can"t!"
Li Yundong nodded. "Secretary Li thinks it"s just a file and can"t cut the satin, so what do you think?" he said loudly, holding the file high and showing it to the people upstairs and downstairs.
All the people in the building were looking at him. One of them shouted, "It"s a file. We can see it clearly!"
Liu Fei"er whispered to Cao Kefei, "Sister Cao, what"s wrong with this guy? What does he want to do with the file?"
Cao Kefei gently patted her hand, stared at Li Yundong, and whispered, "Be quiet, look carefully!"
Liu Fei"er wrinkled her nose and snorted, then opened her eyes wide and peered at Li Yundong carefully.
Li Yundong put the file under the red satin in front of the crowd. "In fact, this file is a peerless magical sword. Once I pull on the red cloth, the file will cut it cleanly!"
Li Yuanbo laughed, "Oh? Is that so?"
Su Chan, who was standing to one side, also stared at Li Yundong, wide-eyed. She couldn"t figure out what he was intending to do.
Zi Yuan, Zhou Qin, Feng Na, and everyone else was also staring at Li Yundong, completely enraptured. They wanted to see what kind of trick he was going to play.
Li Yundong held the file in one hand and the red satin in the other. He took a deep breath and suddenly shouted, stamping his foot.
The crowd felt like Li Yundong"s loud shout was suffocating, exerting pressure in their chests and making them feel faint. When Li Yundong stamped his feet, even the ground trembled slightly, shocking everyone.
When they regained their concentration, they saw that the red satin in Li Yundong"s hand had been neatly cut into two pieces.
Li Yuanbo was closest to Li Yundong, but all he had seen was a white light flashing in front of his eyes and then the red satin was divided into two. The incision was very smooth, and the break was right where the file had been positioned.
Li Yuanbo stared at the file for a second or two, then broke out into a smile. "It"s indeed a peerless sword. Good, awesome!"
At this time, the crowd also cheered. Some of them were praising Li Yundong"s "little trick", while others were cheering for Li Yundong"s ability to adapt to the situation.
Only cultivators like Su Chan, Zi Yuan, Ruan Hongling, Zhou Qin, and the rest of the Fox Zen School knew that Li Yundong had shouted and stomped his feet just to distract everyone"s attention, allowing him to cut the red satin with the Liuhe while no one was looking.
But the speed of the Liuhe was so fast that it almost exceeded what normal people could see with their naked eyes. Others noticed a flash of white light and thought they were hallucinating, but in fact, it was Li Yundong being so bold as to use his sword in front of the military commander in charge of an entire province!
Seeing this, Zi Yuan secretly frowned and thought to herself, "Li Yundong is getting bolder and bolder. Last time he struck Mount Longhu with lighting and now he is actually using his magical sword in front of the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee! I really don"t know what kind of trouble he will cause next time!"
Su Chan didn"t understand the severity of this matter. Seeing that Li Yundong had worked through the crisis, her admiration for him only grew. She looked at Li Yundong with awe and whispered, "Yundong, you"re so amazing! I love you so much!"
Li Yundong secretly shot a glare at her and whispered back, "Get down quickly!"
Su Chan blinked. "But Secretary Li hasn"t cut the ribbon yet!"
Only at this moment did Li Yundong come to his senses. He smiled at Li Yuanbo and said, "Forgive me, Secretary Li, I was so engrossed in the trick that I forgot the ribbon-cutting! I actually cut it before you. I"m so sorry!"
Li Yuanbo laughed. "It doesn"t matter. After all, you"re the owner of this shop. I"m only a guest." As he spoke, he used his scissors to cut the red silk ribbon.
When the crowd saw that the two of them had finished cutting the ribbons, they burst into thunderous applause to celebrate.
Su Chan quickly tucked away from the red satin, then pulled a face at Li Yundong and hurried into the storage room.
Li Yundong looked at the little girl helplessly and shook his head ruefully, thinking to himself, "She is so naughty! She almost ruined the whole thing at a time like this! It"s a good thing I have quick reactions, otherwise, it would have been very embarra.s.sing!"
While he was thinking this, Li Yuanbo smiled and said to Li Yundong, "Li, could you give me the peerless magical sword in your hand?"
Li Yundong smiled. "Of course," he said, handing it over with both hands.
Li Yuanbo took the file, fiddling with it in his hand and saying with a smile, "Interesting, really interesting!"
Li Yundong was a little confused. "Secretary Li seems to be a sophisticated person. Why is he so interested in this file?"
Li Yuanbo carried on playing with the file for a while. Suddenly, he said to Li Yundong, "By the way, I still don"t know the name of your store. Where is the plaque for it? It hasn"t been hung yet, right?"
"I was actually going to invite Secretary Li to unveil it!" Li Yundong explained.
Li Yuanbo grinned. "It sounds like I"m involved in all the good things! Don"t speak ill of me behind my back!"
Li Yundong could tell that even though Li Yuanbo was a high-ranking official of the provincial party committee, he wasn"t the kind to put on airs at all and he always spoke kindly. He was amazed in his heart and didn"t respond for a while.
Zhou Qin then chimed in, "Uncle Li, it"s our honor for you to unveil our plaque. Let"s not delay. We"ve been waiting for it for so long!"
"Alright, then I won"t waste time!" Li Yuanbo said, turning to Li Yundong and flashing his teeth. "Little Li, let"s go together?"
Li Yundong grinned back at him. "Naturally, I"ll accept your offer!"
At this time, Ruan Hongling and Zi Yuan held one side each and carried out the plaque. Li Yundong and Li Yuanbo walked over to them and they opened it together.
Li Yuanbo took a closer look and saw the exquisite characters written on the board: Disanxian! Li Yuanbo"s eyes lit up and he shouted, "These are excellent characters, really excellent! Which master wrote this?"
Li Yundong smiled and pointed to Zi Yuan, saying, "This is the work of Zi Yuan, the second fiddle of our Disanxian!"
Li Yuanbo looked at Zi Yuan in shock and shouted involuntarily, "Is the Eight Immortals Painting on the upper floor also one of your works?"
"Indeed, I carved it," said Zi Yuan.
Li Yuanbo widened his eyes and kept shaking his head. "Incredible! It"s really incredible! How did you learn to do that at such a young age?"
Zi Yuan showed an elegant and dignified smile, like she was Guanyin in the mortal world, amazing people and making them not dare to offend her. "The cultivation of things depends not on time but on one"s heart! If your heart is enough, your kung fu will be enough. If your heart is not enough, then your kung fu will not be enough!"
Li Yuanbo"s expression changed, turning solemn. "You are right, Master Zi Yuan. I"ll remember your words!"
Then he turned his head and said to Li Yundong, "Little Li, I wasn"t expecting to see immortals here today. I didn"t come here in vain!"
Li Yundong asked deliberately, "Immortals? Where?"
Li Yuanbo laughed and pointed at Zi Yuan. "Isn"t she one? She has the looks of a fairy, gestures like one, does fairy calligraphy and fairy paintings. If she is not a living immortal, then what is she?"
Zhou Qin knew that Li Yuanbo was shrewd and deep and would not praise others easily. But at this time, he had made such a comment over Zi Yuan, which obviously showed that he admired her in the extreme. While she also admired Zi Yuan secretly, she was a little unconvinced and wanted to compete with her in the future.
Li Yundong did not know what Zhou Qin was thinking. He said with a smile, "Secretary Li, please take a seat inside. I"ll hang this plaque."
"Well, hang it up quickly for me to get a look at!" Li Yuanbo said. Then he looked at the people around him and added, "Take this plaque upstairs and hang it up quickly. Will you use ladders or ropes?"
As he spoke, he saw that Zi Yuan, Ruan Hongling, and Zhou Qin were all motionless. Zhou Qin said, "Uncle Li, Li Yundong can do it alone."
Li Yuanbo gave her a reproachful look and said, "What nonsense are you spewing? This plaque is made of mahogany and I"m afraid it weighs over forty pounds. How could a person carry it alone?"
As soon as he finished his words, Li Yundong suddenly grabbed the plaque. He shook his arm and slapped the bottom of the plaque with his palm, making it fly into the air and hang right in the middle of the teahouse.
Li Yundong"s acton was very neat and restrained, and all who saw it immediately cheered.
Liu Fei"er, who was slowly munching on some snacks, also widened her eyes. The snack in her hand fell to the ground, and she said in an obsessed tone, "He"s so handsome!"
Cao Kefei snorted complacently as if she was the one who had been in the limelight just now. "So handsome? He"s not all that!"
Li Yuanbo looked up at the plaque hanging steadily, and then turned to Li Yundong with a shocked face. "How did you get such a heavy plaque up there?"
Li Yundong smiled. "It"s an insignificant skill that is not worthy of mentioning!"
Li Yuanbo"s eyes suddenly flashed with a trace of doubt, but he quickly suppressed it. He turned around with a smile, intending to go into the teahouse with Li Yundong.
At this time, Han Lin, who had been hiding and filming everything not far away, suddenly ran over and said loudly, "Secretary Li, can I do a brief interview with you?"
Li Yuanbo secretly frowned and said lightly, "I"m here today to attend a friend"s ceremony. Don"t you think you"re being a bit pushy?" He then turned and went into the teahouse.
Although this was an interrogative question, his tone was clear and non-negotiable. Although Han Lin was arrogant, he was not a fool. He looked embarra.s.sed and thought to himself, "If all I get is a photo of him but no interview, I"ll be scolded when I go back!"
Han Lin had no choice but to turn around and say humbly to Li Yundong, "Boss Li, I was stupid just now and offended you. Please don"t take it to heart. Could I briefly interview you, just for one minute?"
Li Yundong smiled and asked, "Who exactly are you?"
Han Lin could tell that Li Yundong was not going to deliberately embarra.s.s him. He was instantly overjoyed and began saying, "I am..."
But Li Yundong only waited for him to get out these two words before raising his palm and saying, "I"m sorry, I won"t remember it even if you tell me. Please go away!"
Then he turned around and left.
Han Lin"s face immediately turned pig-liver red. He stood alone, gasping for breath for a long while, before eventually gritting his teeth and leaving, utterly defeated.
After Li Yundong had gotten upstairs and settled everyone down, he breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his brow surrept.i.tiously. He thought in his heart, "There should be nothing wrong. These officials have to be handled with extreme care. It"s so stressful to serve them!"
While he was thinking this, he suddenly saw Su Chan run upstairs in alarm.
As soon as Li Yundong saw her, he smiled bitterly and said, "What"s wrong with you now, my dear lady?"
Su Chan hurriedly waved her hand and pulled Li Yundong to one side, whispering frantically, "Yundong, bad news!"
Li Yundong asked curiously, "What"s wrong? Look how scared you are!"
"There are two more guests coming!"
Li Yundong laughed. "If more guests show up, we"ll just add seats. What"s the big deal?"
Su Chan stomped her feet and said, "I don"t mean that! The new guests are Zhang Ling and Zou Ping!"
Li Yundong was shocked. "The Lady of the Earthly Fire, Zhang Ling, and her disciple, Zou Ping!?"
Su Chan nodded, her head bobbing like that of a hen pecking at rice. "Yes, yes, it"s them!"
Li Yundong gasped. "What are they doing coming to today"s opening ceremony? Are they here to stir up trouble?"