Rebuilding and the Possible Map in Feng Manor

Night City is more valuable than the Su Clan, so just ignore the Su Clan and focus on winning over Night City. Lance Quinn really does have... a point!

Storm Cloud Bu shot Lance Quinn a glare, clearly annoyed. It was obviously because of Serena Feng that he made the wrong decision, and not only did he refuse to admit it, he could still dress it up as grand strategy after the fact. Only Lance Quinn could pull that off in this world—the thickness of his skin was honestly breathtaking.

"Lance Quinn, could you be any more shameless?" Storm Cloud Bu snapped. "The Su Clan and Night City don't even conflict—you could easily win both over."

"The shameless one is Ninth Royal Uncle. I never do shameless things," Lance Quinn replied calmly.

"Always blaming Ninth Royal Uncle—such an irresponsible man." Storm Cloud Bu turned away, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"What does responsibility have to do with it? It's just the truth," Lance Quinn couldn't care less.

"The truth? You actually said that out loud. Fine, I'm not arguing with you. Whether it's true or not, you know better than I do. Are you trying to use this to win Night City over? Ninth Royal Uncle isn't really trying to match Su Wan and Reid Yale, is he?" Storm Cloud Bu eyed Lance Quinn suspiciously—Ninth Royal Uncle was never that kindhearted, especially not enough to let Reid Yale get what he wants.

"You've spent too much time with Baor, and now you're just as naive as she is." Lance Quinn said acidly, brushing off his sleeve where Storm Cloud Bu had touched it, as if it were contaminated.

"Ninth Royal Uncle refused to marry Su Wan, humiliating her in public. She must hate him to death. If Su Wan marries Reid Yale, with how much he likes her, all she'd have to do is whisper in his ear and he'd turn against Ninth Royal Uncle. Only an idiot would hand Su Wan over to Reid Yale."

"Even if Reid Yale doesn't marry Su Wan, he still won't help Ninth Royal Uncle." Storm Cloud Bu said sourly. Just thinking about Reid Yale reminded him of the humiliation of being tied naked to the spinning wheel—if he could, he'd kill Reid Yale himself.

Storm Cloud Bu couldn't help but gloat—he couldn't kill Reid Yale, because Reid was the heir of Night City, and Night City would never let him off. But hearing that Reid Yale couldn't marry the woman he obsessively longed for, Su Wan, Storm felt a secret satisfaction.

Lance Quinn gave a mysterious, knowing smile. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Ninth Royal Uncle doesn't need Reid Yale's help, just his cooperation. Don't worry about Su Wan—I'll handle it. What I'm really concerned about right now is Serena Feng's safety."

Prince Damien of Southlyn is cunning, petty, and vindictive. Last time, because of Serena Feng, he suffered a huge loss in Eastlyn and fled home like a beaten dog.

On top of that, his rival for power in Southern Lyn, Prince Nathan of Southlyn, was rescued by Serena Feng. Old grudges mixed with new ones—there's no way Prince Damien will let Serena go. His visit to Eastlyn may be officially for marriage talks, but in reality, he's here for revenge. He can't touch Ninth Royal Uncle, but Serena is vulnerable."

As Lance Quinn spoke, he glanced at Storm Cloud Bu, his meaning obvious. Storm tried to feign ignorance but couldn't, so he grumbled, "So after all that, you just want me to secretly protect Serena Feng, right? Fine, I won't let her get assassinated. Besides, this is the imperial capital—it's not so easy for assassins to sneak in."

Storm Cloud Bu really wanted to ask Lance Quinn: what's so great about Serena Feng that you're scheming so much for her? Then again, when he first met Serena, he was pretty taken with her himself.

At the Sun clan estate, Serena Feng was discussing Feng Manor's reconstruction with William Wang Jinling when she suddenly sneezed. She muttered to herself, "Is Ninth Royal Uncle scheming about me again?"

"With you watching over her, I can relax." Getting the answer he wanted, Lance Quinn stopped pressing and turned to Vincent Su: "Vincent, don't let anyone find out about those mirrors you used to create the Auspicious Omen today. I have a use for them."

His tone was calm, but left no room for refusal or negotiation.

"What? Keep it secret? Why? I've already ordered mass production—if I can't sell them, I'll lose everything I invested!" Vincent Su was used to following Lance Quinn's orders, but he couldn't help complaining. He knew those mirrors were worth a fortune; with just a single sale, he could make a killing. Now, not only couldn't he profit, he'd lose his principal too.

"Stop obsessing over money. Those things are going to be worth a lot more in the future." Lance Quinn's eyes flashed coldly, making Vincent Su shiver involuntarily. Still, Vincent couldn't help muttering, "If I don't obsess over money, where do you get the funds to pay spies, armies, and bribe informants?"

Money, money, money—war can't happen without it. Without money, they couldn't do anything.

Lance Quinn understood perfectly, so he softened his tone: "I know money's important, but it's not worth exposing something so valuable just for quick cash. I watched today and I'm convinced those mirrors will be a game-changer on the battlefield. There'll be plenty of chances to make money later."

"I get it. Don't worry, I'll keep it under wraps. When I built this batch of mirrors, I even chose a remote location for the workshop." Vincent Su knew Lance Quinn was thinking long-term. Even though it hurt a bit, he could accept it. Worst case, he'd squeeze some new invention out of Serena Feng—if she could come up with the mirror formula, she could probably invent something else weird too.

Lance Quinn nodded in satisfaction. He always trusted Vincent Su to handle things, so he handed him another job: "Feng Manor's been burned down. Serena Feng's been busy, but now she'll definitely be planning its reconstruction. Vincent, figure out a way to take charge of rebuilding Feng Manor for her."

"Rebuild Feng Manor for Serena Feng? Quinn, are you really going to be this good to her?" Vincent Su groaned, feeling dumped with both public and private business. Quinn was being way too much.

With just a look, Lance Quinn knew exactly what Vincent was thinking. He snapped, "Who said this is for Serena Feng? It's official business."

"Official business? Quinn, you're kidding, right? Rebuilding Feng Manor for Serena counts as official business? Why not have Ninth Royal Uncle do it? He could use the Ministry of Works and dip into the imperial coffers—if you want to mix public and private, that's the way. Take the Emperor's money for Serena's benefit." Storm Cloud Bu snarked.

Were these two unhappy with Serena Feng, or just with his recent behavior? Lance Quinn guessed it was the latter, and decided to explain.

"Serena Feng is a descendant of the Phoenixfield clan. When the Nine-Provinces Dragon-Vein Map was split into nine pieces, the Phoenixfield clan received one. Maybe that fragment is hidden in Feng Manor and Serena doesn't even know it. The fire that gutted Feng Manor might have exposed some hidden mechanism or cache. With that possibility in front of us, we can't ignore it."

"That makes sense, Quinn. But would the Nine-Provinces Dragon-Vein Map really be hidden in Feng Manor?" Vincent Su asked, suddenly serious and hopeful.

All these years, they'd been searching for the Nine-Provinces Dragon-Vein Map. So far, they'd only managed to get one fragment from Prince Terrence Valen of Lyndaria; the other eight were still missing. If Feng Manor really held another piece, they'd hit the jackpot...