163: Chapter 164 I am the City Lord of Huacheng

The envoys were all stunned for a moment.

Their first impression was not shock, nor was it fear.

Rather, it was an instinctive thought that popped into their minds.

This person has a truly good temperament.

He didn't look like a guard, a servant, or an ordinary advisor.

Standing there, he appeared completely clean and composed, like the Little Jianmu in the courtyard brushed by the morning breeze—gentle, yet instinctively making one not dare to be slighting.

City Lord Qin Fang steadied himself, stepped forward half a step, and cupped his hands: "Please report our arrival. We are envoys from the five cities of Heyang, Qinghe, Liefeng, Nanchang, and Maple Leaf, seeking an audience with your City Lord."

As soon as these words were spoken, Lei Lie's expression sank instantly.

"Presumptuous!"

Those two words weren't heavy, but they felt like a piece of iron slamming directly into the envoys' chests.

The people behind felt their hearts tighten instantly, and their shoulders tensed up.

City Lord Qin Fang himself was also stunned for a moment. Just as he was about to speak again, he saw the young man raise his hand.

"It's fine."

His voice was just like him—gentle and calm, without a hint of aggressiveness.

After speaking, he looked at everyone and smiled.

"I am the City Lord of Flower City, Zhou Yun."

As the words fell, the area outside the courtyard gate went instantly quiet.

It wasn't just the envoys who were stunned; even the guards behind, who had been keeping their nerves taut the whole way, felt as if they had been tapped lightly on the head, their minds going blank for an instant.

He is the City Lord of Flower City?

The person who opened the door personally is the City Lord of Flower City?

The leader of the Nanchang envoys moved his lips, but couldn't make a sound for a long time.

The Bronze Rank guard from Liefeng, who had kept a tense face the whole way, instinctively looked up at Zhou Yun again, as if wanting to confirm if he had misheard.

But no matter how they looked, there was only this one person at the gate.

And the small courtyard behind him was also quiet, without any signs of people busy reporting, running about, or serving.

City Lord Qin Fang was the first to snap out of it. Before the shock in his eyes had completely faded, he cupped his hands and bowed again.

"So it is the City Lord himself. Please forgive my rudeness, Zhou Yun."

"It's fine." Zhou Yun turned to the side, making room for everyone. "Since distinguished guests have arrived, please come in, everyone."

He said this very naturally.

So naturally that it felt like he was inviting friends from afar to come in and sit, rather than welcoming an envoy delegation from surrounding small cities.

But precisely because of this, the envoys felt even more uncomfortable.

Because the City Lord's mansion they had imagined shouldn't be like this.

It shouldn't lack layers of reporting, it shouldn't lack servants to welcome guests, and it certainly shouldn't have the City Lord himself opening the door.

However, right now, the facts were laid out before them.

The group exchanged glances and eventually followed him inside.

Upon entering the courtyard, the shock in everyone's hearts rose another level.

The courtyard was very clean.

The ground was swept spotless, with a few pots of well-grown flowers and plants in the corner, and a Little Jianmu on the east side, its leaves swaying gently in the morning breeze, rustling.

Other than that, there was nothing else.

There were no servants coming and going.

No one carrying washbasins or tea trays.

Nor were there any decorations that at a glance displayed status or grandeur.

If there was anything special, it was perhaps just the word "clean."

It was so clean that it almost gave people the illusion that this wasn't the City Lord's mansion of a major city controlling tens of thousands of Mercenaries and over two hundred thousand people, but just an ordinary, quiet little courtyard.

The leader of the Qinghe City envoys couldn't help but scan the area.

Empty.

Truly, there wasn't a single person.

He instinctively slowed his pace, the indescribable sense of strangeness in his heart growing heavier.

Outside, Flower City was so bustling, so prosperous, so strong.

Yet, as the core of this city, this City Lord's mansion was excessively simple, even somewhat old, as if it hadn't been renovated in a long time.

But the more this was the case, the less he dared to underestimate it.

Because this meant that the things Flower City had accumulated didn't seem to have been spent much on the City Lord himself.

Thinking of this, his heart felt inexplicably heavy.

The group was led into the main hall.

The furnishings in the hall were equally simple: a main seat, a few chairs on either side, a long table, and an unassuming landscape painting hanging on the wall. Apart from that, there was nothing else.

Zhou Yun raised his hand to signal: "Please, everyone, take a seat."

Only then did everyone take their respective seats.

Though they were "sitting," in reality, not a single one dared to fully lean back.

Especially the few guards, whose knees were tense like iron, with their buttocks only barely touching the edge of the chairs, as if they were ready to spring up at any moment.

Zhou Yun sat in the main seat, looked at everyone, and as if suddenly remembering something, turned his head and said: "Minister Lei, please help brew some tea for everyone."

"I will go immediately." Lei Lie replied without a moment's hesitation.

After speaking, he turned and left.

The main hall went absolutely quiet for an instant.

The envoys almost thought they had misheard.

Brew tea?

Who is going to brew it?

Lei Lie?

That Lei Lie who led them into the city, who could suppress several envoy delegations with a single sentence while standing under the East City Gate, and who carried the bright, distinct aura of a Silver Rank Professional?

Let a Silver Rank Professional go brew tea for them?

The leader of the Nanchang envoys' fingers trembled, almost crumpling his robe.

The Bronze Rank guard from Liefeng stiffened even more, his back straightening further, his mind filled with only one chaotic thought.

This tea... dare I take it later?

No one spoke.

Because no one knew what to say at this moment.

Say "You shouldn't"?

But Lei Lie had already gone.

Say "I don't deserve this"?

The words hadn't even left their mouths, and he was already out the door.

So everyone could only sit there stiffly, listening to the very light footsteps outside fade away and then quickly return.

Before long, Lei Lie entered carrying a tea tray.

His steps were steady, his expression normal, as if he had just done a completely ordinary, trivial thing.

City Lord Qin Fang's gaze fell on that tea tray, and his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

He had seen too many Silver Rank Professionals in Heyang being surrounded by attendants; even the most ordinary Silver Rank expert would never be asked to serve tea or water.

But upon arriving in Flower City, this Silver Rank Lei Lie was carrying tea, serving the City Lord first, then the guests, his movements so natural that not even a hint of reluctance could be seen.

This wasn't forced.

It was that he himself felt there was no issue with doing so.

The more this was the case, the more City Lord Qin Fang could not suppress the shock in his heart.

Lei Lie first placed a cup of tea by Zhou Yun's side, then turned to pour tea for each of the leaders.

"Please," he said.

His voice was neither cold nor warm, with no detectable emotion.

But when the envoys took the tea, their movements were more cautious than the last.

When the leader from Qinghe City reached out, his fingers unconsciously shrank back, as if afraid of touching Lei Lie's hand.

The one from Nanchang, after picking up the teacup, sat even straighter, his wrists tense, fearing that the tea might spill.