Extra Story - Tales of the Capital - Final Chapter

The landscape of Jingzhou was now settled.

The Lu family had risen to become the undisputed top-tier aristocracy.

The Mo family, amidst this storm, had acquired substantial overseas resources.

Alliance members like the Qin and Zhou families had also received their satisfactory share of the spoils.

A grand celebration banquet was held at the Lu family estate.

The hall was filled with distinguished guests, and glasses clinked in toasts.

Lu Chengsi stood at the center of the crowd, basking in everyone's congratulations and admiration.

His prestige had reached its zenith at this moment.

Lu Mingye moved through the crowd with a wine glass in hand.

He reveled in this feeling of being the center of attention.

The look in everyone's eyes was filled with awe and reverence.

He felt he was the crown prince of this new era.

After the celebration banquet, in the Mo family study.

"Zhenbang."

Mo Jingsheng looked at his son before him and spoke slowly,

"What do you see?"

"I see the beginning of a decline from the peak of prosperity."

Mo Zhenbang said.

Mo Jingsheng nodded in approval.

"Lu Chengsi is a fierce tiger."

"But, Lu Mingye is a domesticated sheep. He will never amount to anything."

"The Lu family's ship appears large, but in reality, it already has cracks."

"What our Mo family must do is not compete with them for temporary gains."

"Rather, we wait."

"Wait for them to rot and collapse from within."

Mo Zhenbang remained silent.

He looked at the triumphant Lu Mingye in the distance.

And remembered that other one, Li Xiujian, whose whereabouts were unknown.

The former "Three Young Masters of Jinghua."

One had reached the summit, one was lying low, and one still lived in a dream.

Fate was truly ironic.

After the storm, everything moved onto a new track.

Having weathered this trial, Mo Zhenbang's wings were now fully grown.

Mo Jingsheng chose an auspicious day for Mo Zhenbang to formally take over the helm of the Mo family.

Thus began his era—a more low-key, yet even more vast, commercial age.

Under his father's arrangements, Lu Mingye formally entered the management of the Lu Corporation.

Not long after, Lu Chengsi arranged a marriage for him.

The match was with the eldest daughter of the Lou family, an old scholarly family from Qingzhou—Lou Mengling.

A woman who was well-educated, gentle, virtuous, and refined.

It was a typical aristocratic alliance marriage.

A union of powerful families to consolidate status.

The wedding was extravagantly grand.

Looking at his beautiful bride and hearing the cheers filling the hall, Lu Mingye was immensely satisfied and proud.

He believed he was the happiest man in the world.

Possessing the most prominent family background and the most beautiful wife.

Life was now complete.

His ambition extended no further than this.

Sitting in the seat of honor, Lu Chengsi watched his mediocre and complacent son.

A flicker of disappointment, difficult to conceal, passed through his eyes.

Time flowed quietly by.

Several years passed in the blink of an eye.

Jingzhou had long forgotten the once-overbearing Li family.

And also forgotten that young man named Li Xiujian.

In an inconspicuous corner of the city's west.

A trading company named "Tianji" quietly grew powerful.

No one knew who the boss of this company was.

They only knew he was ruthless in method and sharp in vision.

Specializing in gray-area businesses others dared not touch.

Navigating effortlessly between the legitimate and underworld spheres.

Tianji amassed astonishing wealth.

In a low-key office.

Li Xiujian stood by the window, gazing into the distance at the headquarters building of the Lu Corporation.

It stood like a golden giant tower piercing the clouds.

All traces of youthfulness had faded from his face.

Leaving only a cold, hard, and somber severity, as if carved by a knife.

Years of lying low out of the sunlight had turned him into the most patient of venomous snakes.

Behind him stood Brother Bao.

"Boss, our mole within the Lu Corporation sent word."

"Lu Mingye has recently become infatuated with a woman."

"That woman is named Liu Mei."

The corner of Li Xiujian's mouth lifted in an icy smile.

"The fish has taken the bait."

"Tell her it's time to reel in the net."

"Yes."

...

Lu Mingye had been very irritable lately.

His work at the Lu Corporation was dull and unremarkable.

The old-timers there didn't hold him in much regard.

His wife, Lou Mengling, was as proper as a textbook, holding no interest for him whatsoever.

She even occasionally bossed him around!

Now she was pregnant and couldn't even fulfill his most basic needs.

His father's gaze was always one of disappointment and dissatisfaction.

He felt his life was like a stagnant pond.

Until he met Liu Mei.

At a private club.

She wore a white dress, playing the piano quietly.

Like a pristine white camellia, untouched by dust.

Her eyes were clear, melancholic, with a hint of fragility.

Lu Mingye was captivated at first sight.

He had never seen a woman like her.

He pursued her madly.

Sending flowers, cars, jewelry.

Yet Liu Mei remained aloof and elusive.

She never accepted his expensive gifts.

She only said she liked to see him smile.

This only further ignited Lu Mingye's desire to conquer her.

Finally, on a rainy night.

He intercepted her on her way home.

"Why won't you accept me?"

He asked, his eyes red.

"Mr. Lu, we are from different worlds."

Tears welled in Liu Mei's eyes.

"I don't care!"

Lu Mingye pulled her into his arms.

"I only want you."

Liu Mei trembled slightly in his embrace.

But at an angle no one could see, the corner of her mouth curled into a mocking smile.

From then on, Lu Mingye seemed like a changed man.

He bought an apartment for Liu Mei in the most expensive neighborhood in Jingzhou.

He rushed there as soon as he left work.

He felt that only by Liu Mei's side could he find his confidence and dignity as a man.

He poured all his tenderness into this woman.

...

In the VIP ward of Jingzhou First Hospital.

Lou Mengling gave birth to a baby boy.

The Lu family's first grandson.

The news brought jubilation throughout the Lu household.

Lu Mingye held his son, grinning from ear to ear.

It seemed his uninteresting wife wasn't so detestable after all.

Lu Chengsi also rushed to the hospital.

He paid no mind to the excited Lu Mingye.

Instead, he walked straight to the crib.

He looked at the small life sleeping quietly in the swaddling clothes.

The tiny infant wasn't crying.

He just opened his pair of dark, bright eyes, curiously observing this unfamiliar world.

Those eyes were deep and calm.

In this small grandson, Lu Chengsi's heart saw something he had never seen in his son, Lu Mingye.

It was hope.

The true future of the Lu family.

"Good, good child."

He extended his aged hand and gently stroked the infant's cheek.

"From today, your name is Lu Chenyuan."

"You are the prodigy, the future of our Lu family."

And at the other end of the city.

Li Xiujian glanced at the report about the Lu family's new addition.

"Lu Chenyuan..."

He softly uttered the name.

There was no anger in his eyes, only a cold, cruel look as if observing prey.

"Another branch of the Lu family bloodline."

"How wonderful."

Another interesting piece had been added to the chessboard of revenge.

A saga of gratitude and grudges spanning two generations in the capital slowly drew open its blood-red curtain.