“There is no time to lose!” After Liu Mang left Qian Yu in the room, he, Kuai Ran, Kuai Liang and Jia Xu started to form their plan.
“I will write the invitation.” Kuai Liang suggested as he was well known in Jingzhou. Liu Mang and Jia Xu did not argue. To begin with, Liu Mang was not good as using the brush and Jia Xu was not much better than Liu Mang. Most importantly, their purpose was to have everyone in Jingzhou recognize the handwriting.
“I will come up with the money for the feast!” Liu Mang nodded as he said. If Kuai Ran were to take a wife, the feast must definitely be extravagant. Kuai Liang himself was a high ranked official but the residence here did not seem to have much wealth. If they were to invite people over for a feast, Kuai Liang may need to go hungry the next day. Kuai Liang would also not request for assistance from the Kuai Family. As a result, it would be best if Liu Mang was the one to fork out the money.
“Mister Zirou. Please give me the addresses of all the prominent people in Jingzhou. I will arrange for the servants to deliver them!” Jia Xu said.
Kuai Liang shook his head in reply. “There is not enough people.” If Kuai Liang lent Jia Xu the men to send invitation letters, there would be no one that could prepare the feast. Even if Chen Kang was good, he cannot handle all the work on his own, especially when it is for events like the wedding of the Kuai Family’s heir.
“Not enough people?” Jia Xu frowned. Jingzhou was too big. If they were to add all the noble families and famous scholars together, there would be hundreds. Even worse was the fact that there are many noble families who hated each other living in the different corners of Jingzhou.
“It is too late to recruit people now.” Liu Mang shook his head. He then saw Chen Kang moving around decorating the place accordingly to the specifications and suddenly shouted. “Uncle Chen! Uncle Chen!”
“Hm?” Chen Kang was writing something on a notebook. It was mostly about the preparation of the banquet such as the amount of wine needed. He was so busy that Liu mang had to call him a few times before he replied.
“Your Highness. Is there something you need of me?” After noticing that he was called, Chen Kang approached Liu Mang. He then bowed towards both his master and Liu Mang.
“Uncle Chen. Didn’t you say that you have a nephew?” Liu Mang asked. Chen Kang’s face turned red in response as his nephew was a disgrace.
“You have a nephew? Why have you never mentioned him before?” Kuai Liang looked at Chen Kang in surprise. While Kuai Liang would not overly favor a person, he would still have given Chen Kang’s nephew a job so that Chen Kang’s nephew would not be jobless. Chen Kang hurriedly replied to Kuai Liang that his nephew was a disgraceful person that would make them lose face which is why he never said anything about his nephew.
Chen Kang felt apprehensive. He did not know why Liu Mang brought up this matter. Chen Kang did not believe that it was just to humiliate him as Liu Mang was not arrogant despite being the King of Shu.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Chen. Your master is not like that! There are people in every trade!” Liu Mang tried to calm Chen Kang down. Unfortunately, Liu Mang was wrong. Kuai Liang actually did feel uncomfortable when he heard that Chen Kang’s nephew was a hooligan. This is because Kuai Liang was in charge of public security. Yet he had no choice but to give face to Liu Mang.
“Uncle Chen. Go and call your nephew here now!” Liu Mang said to Chen Kang.
“This is… Your Highness. My nephew does not know etiquette and would defile your eyes!” Chen Kang spoke with worry. If his nephew were to cause mischief elsewhere, Chen Kang could always go and ask for favors. On the other hand, there would be no saving his nephew if his nephew were to be rude to the King of Shu.
“Hm?” Kuai Liang frowned. He did not want to see this nephew. It was not disdain. He simply had an involuntary feeling of discomfort.
“Haha. Does Uncle Chen not want your nephew to break away from being jobless? Now there is an opportunity for him. If he does his job, both your master and I would surely reward him!” Liu Mang persuaded.
“Huh?” Chen Kang stared blankly. He knew that his nephew was just a hooligan. How could he help with the preparation for the banquet when all he can do was fight and swindle?
“Since His Highness have already said it, let your nephew come over.” Kuai Liang and Jia Xu understood Liu Mang’s intentions. Right now, they were lacking people and Chen Kang’s nephew was a hooligan. A hooligan lacks money and opportunity but they certainly had plenty of time and manpower. Even during the last years of Eastern Han, there were lots of ‘knight errants’ who were basically just idlers with a nicer name.
“Milord. Can this hooligan really do it?” Jia Xu felt unconfident. After all, hooligans were hard to restrict, vulgar, and lacked education. On the other hand, the job of sending letters needed well-behaved individuals.
“Haha. Even if he is vulgar, we don’t have a choice.” Liu Mang shook his head. Although he had men and plenty of servants in the residence Liu Biao provided, that place had too many spies. Since Liu Mang could not expose himself, he could only make use of Chen Kang’s nephew. While hooligans were rude, they were still people that could deliver letters. More importantly, the letters were written by Kuai Liang. Even if those who receive the letters were dissatisfied by the hooligans, they would still come after seeing Kuai Liang’s handwriting.
