Chapter 105: New Year

“Bang! Bang!”

In the biting cold wind, Lin Qi stood bare-chested, swinging a double-edged axe with a blade as wide as his waist, striking heavily at a towering black pine tree dozens of meters tall and thick enough for several people to encircle. The bark of this black pine was exceptionally thick; the harsh north sea winds and frigid temperatures stunted its growth, making its wood incredibly dense and resilient. Ordinary knives or swords couldn’t leave a single scratch.

Lin Qi wielded the specially made heavy axe with great effort, drenched in sweat from exertion. Warm breath rose from his body, quickly crystallizing into ice particles in the cold wind and drifting far away.

Long Cheng left silently, just as quietly as he had arrived in Dun’erke. Tang Ji’er did not find Long Cheng to duel him. Instead, when Tang Ji’er, spear in hand, charged to Lin Qi’s ancestral home to issue a challenge, Aunt Lily slapped him so hard, both he and his horse were sent flying. Tang Qiao then took Tang Ji’er back for strict supervision.

Angel and Anlin, the two delicate young ladies, though involved with Long Cheng in such affairs, did not suffer any damage to their reputations—Long Cheng had given them all the gold bills he had obtained from Lin Qi, then left with two thousand gold coins.

The two of them, still unmarried but already grown, had found a mysterious lover from the East, one who claimed noble Eastern lineage. After sharing intimate moments with the two esteemed young ladies, this lover generously left them two and a half million gold coins!

Such a gift was well matched to their status.

To have a noble, mysterious, wealthy, and generous lover was truly enviable, and Long Cheng was indeed quite handsome, with all the physical attributes befitting the term “pretty boy,” a label both flattering and disparaging. Thus, the scandal involving Angel and Anlin became a celebrated anecdote among Dun’erke’s noble ladies and young heiresses.

Angel and Anlin came from merchant families, not nobility. Their elders, valuing profit, were quite pleased with the affair. Such premarital liaisons were common in Dun’erke, with similar scandals occurring yearly. But for someone like Long Cheng to casually part with two and a half million gold coins was astonishing!

Only a true top-tier noble could be so lavish. Everyone thought Angel and Anlin had truly found a remarkable lover! So, the uproar Long Cheng caused gradually morphed into a romantic tale. Apart from Tang Ji’er’s lingering grudge and desire for a duel with Long Cheng, there were no other negative consequences.

A few days after Long Cheng’s departure, the New Year was about to arrive in the Western Continent.

According to Western customs, the New Year must be celebrated by lighting a bonfire to honor the gods. The more wood piled and the higher the flames, the more prosperous the family was deemed to be. The bonfire’s sacred flames were believed to burn away last year’s misfortune, much like a lighthouse on a dark coastline; the brighter the blaze, the more fortune it would attract for the coming year.

By tradition, the family heir was responsible for personally chopping the wood for the bonfire. In the past three years, with Lin Qi away, Black Beard had wielded the axe himself in the black pine forest. But this year, with Lin Qi’s return, the arduous task naturally fell to him.

Bare-chested, he swung a heavy axe weighing no less than a hundred pounds, gasping for breath as he cut a large notch at the base of the black pine, harder than steel. Summoning his fighting spirit, he roared and leapt three or four meters into the air, stomping down with feet glowing yellow on the tree trunk.

The heavily burdened black pine creaked sharply, cracks spreading near the notch. Slowly, the towering tree toppled heavily, like a fallen frost titan collapsing onto the snow, sending a shower of white powder flying.

“Hey, young master, you’re truly mighty!” Hammer and Cleaver, along with a group of burly laborers, cheered excitedly. Hammer winked and said, “If you chop ten more like that, our family’s sacred fire will surely be the largest in all of Dun’erke this year!”

Lin Qi rubbed his aching hands, shooting them an annoyed glare before dragging his axe toward another black pine a short distance away. Enzo, dressed neatly, stood beneath a nearby tree, sipping wine and shaking his head with a sigh.

“This is the privilege of the family heir, boss. Keep at it! I’m already drooling thinking about the whole roast beef cooked over the sacred fire!” Enzo smiled brightly, watching Lin Qi sweat profusely while he leisurely rested with fine wine in hand, savoring one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Lin Qi grunted, raising his axe and delivering a dozen blows to the tree. Then he straightened up, frowning at Enzo. “I’ve been pondering something these past two days. Why did Long Cheng go to the imperial capital? Didn’t he win the bet by crossing the North Sea and the Odin Icefields? Why go to the capital? He could have returned East by now!”

Enzo shrugged nonchalantly. “Who knows? Maybe he needs some kind of proof?”

Lin Qi laughed, swinging the axe again with renewed vigor. “Proof? Yeah, how can he prove he made it safely to the West? Maybe the emperor’s crown would make good proof?”

With a loud ‘clang,’ the axe sunk deep into the trunk.

Loosening his grip, Lin Qi looked back at Enzo in surprise. Enzo’s expression had also changed. The two stared at each other blankly for a moment before Enzo forced a smile. “He wouldn’t be that crazy, right? Maybe he had other business along the way—like buying some local specialties in the capital?”

The wild wind whipped up a blizzard, engulfing the land. After delivering the felled black pine to the ancestral home, night quickly fell.

The next day was New Year’s Eve. Lin Qi busied himself stacking a massive bonfire in the ancestral courtyard, arranging logs as thick as ordinary thighs into a sturdy pile over ten meters high. The pungent scent of fire oil was poured over the wood.

As midnight approached, marking the end of the old year and the start of the new, Black Beard, head of the household, personally lit the enormous bonfire with a torch. Flames soared upward, the largest bonfire Dun’erke had seen that year, thanks to Lin Qi’s hard daytime labor.

The towering flames rose atop Black Beech Mountain, illuminating nearly half of Dun’erke.

The blaze roared fiercely, filling the air with the aroma of roasted meat and the scent of fine wine wafting in all directions.

Everyone in the Black Tiger family revelled joyously within the estate. Lin Qi carried jars of wine, toasting all around.

Suddenly, Arthur appeared from nowhere, holding up a glass to block Lin Qi’s path.

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A Taste of China—when will I ever get to try all the delicious food from China?

Time for bed. Good night, everyone!