Chapter 226: [187] Bluffing Through, The First Step of the Pei Family’s Comrcial Empire (Seeking Monthly Tickets, Recomndations, and Support)_1
Ti rewound to last night, 11:22 PM.
Lei Ya dragged his long knife and slashed.
In the blink of an eye, as Iron Mark rapidly retreated, his fingers clasped onto the back collar of the young lad he passed.
The fierce wind blew open.
Lei Ya’s blade light veered off course.
It was also amid the roaring dust in the sky.
Behind the young lad, Iron Mark whispered, “I don’t kill you because of Shenxiao. If you want the key, co and find .”
Then, he flung the youth from his hand.
…
On the training ground, the morning wind brushed through the trees on both sides.
With a rustling sound.
The air between Jinye and the old man appeared to freeze.
A thread of chill stirred soone’s heartstrings.
Yet the old man still wore his kind smile, holding the coconut at an unhurried pace, “Don’t be nervous, just speak frankly.”
Jinye swallowed the last of the coconut juice, “Senior, I’m very afraid of dying, can you understand ?”
“Of course, who isn’t afraid of dying,” the old man said leisurely, “But if you intend to conceal sothing, I could kill you right now.”
Noticing that the expression of the high school student stiffened, the old man couldn’t help but chuckle softly, teasingly saying, “Don’t be nervous, do I look like the kind of person who kills indiscriminately? Don’t worry, the wronged souls who died at my hands won’t miss one more.”
“Ah well, I knew there was no escaping it.” Jinye put down the coconut in his hand and confessed, “He told why the Federation has child laborers and asked whether it’s worth it for a key. I swear I only understood the first half of the sentence. My senses tell there’s a lot to unravel here. Anyway, he’s been caught by you, so you can pry his mouth open, can’t you?”
The old man gazed at the high school student’s clear eyes, then slowly averted his gaze, “If it were so easy to pry open, why would he be detained for so long? But do you know him?”
“I don’t know him,” Jinye said with honest eyes, “If senior doesn’t believe , you can use the machine, which will surely determine whether my words are true or false.”
“Hahaha, I didn’t realize you’re quite familiar with this line of work,” the old man laughed heartily.
Jinye looked helpless, “The human heart is unpredictable, more convincing than the results given by a machine.”
The old man slapped the armrest of the recliner and stood up, “Alright, there’s no need to ask further, you clean up here.”
He left leisurely with his hands behind his back.
As he left, he sighed, “I’m getting old, I can’t even endure a bit of cold wind…”
Watching the elder’s figure recede into the distance.
Jinye slowly retracted his gaze, not showing any inappropriate expression, instead, he picked up the coconut from the table again, shook it lightly, and looked regretful.
He looked up at the figure that had disappeared around the corner, gathered the coconuts from the table, packed them up and disposed of them before leaving.
From a distant office building.
Lin Xiawei was witnessing it all.
“How was it?” The elder’s voice ca suddenly from behind.
Lin Xiawei retracted her gaze, her eyes calm as ever, unsurprised by the elder’s sudden arrival, “What does Teacher want to inquire about?”
“How’s your junior apprentice-brother doing?”
The old man’s tone was too irreverent for anyone to take seriously, but Lin Xiawei didn’t take it as a joke.
She asked peculiarly:
“Didn’t you say you weren’t going to take on any more disciples?”
“Closed-door Disciple,” the old man said seriously.
“Didn’t you say I was the Closed-door Disciple?” Lin Xiawei arched an eyebrow slightly.
“Did I?” the old man started playing dumb and miraculously changed the subject, “What do you think is the reason Iron Mark spoke to him alone?”
Lin Xiawei sighed at her teacher’s abrupt change of subject, but still retracted her gaze and pondered, “I can only see part of his data, the deeper layers of information have been locked.”
“Oh?”
The old man’s eyebrows lifted again, his interest piqued.
“It seems soone has already placed their bets on him… don’t you think my eye for disciples is good?”
Lin Xiawei didn’t respond.
The old man laughed aloud, “The lad has a good nature and a lot of courage. I’ll take a gamble that the people backing him still don’t know his true worth!”
“Teacher,” Lin Xiawei sighed, “You’ve forgotten that ti in North Continent when you took on a disciple and confronted Dugu Jianzhong for three days. You’re still bearing a penalty for it.”
“That’s different. People from Dugu are stubborn, a bit crazy in the head. They didn’t believe the kid’s luck lay with … As for this lad, it’s truly beneath him to co to the Investigation Team.”
The old man sighed, “Since Iron Mark knows you can see everything on the battlefield, but still deliberately spoke alone to the lad and even ntioned the key, it’s a provocation.”
“Do you think… this has the Old Gods Association’s doing?” Lin Xiawei’s gaze grew more solemn.
“Old Gods Association?” The old man shook his head, “The Old Gods Association couldn’t bring him over back then, with conflicting ideologies. This guy Iron Mark… probably has soone else guiding him. But what’s his purpose in revealing all this information?”
Engrossed in thought, the old man disappeared from the spot without saying goodbye.
Lin Xiawei, as if accustod to this, showed no surprise, turned back to the training ground, but by then there was no trace of Jinye left.
…
In the dormitory.
Jinye sat cross-legged, cultivating.
“Big Dream for Thousands of Autumns”ran wildly.
First there was Teacher Chang, then Iron Mark and Lei Ya from Storm City, and now this terrifying old man with an unknown na.
Jinye suddenly realized how weak he really was.
As for what Iron Mark said, he didn’t tell the old man the full truth.
Iron Mark clearly linked him with the Shenxiao Sword of the Jiang family.
If you want the key, go find him… but the key was sothing Jinye knew nothing about.
For sothing he knew nothing about and with no clear benefit defined, Jinye certainly wouldn’t put himself in danger.
If he told the old man directly that Iron Mark asked him to co over, he might beco bait.
He deliberately passed on information that was a mix of truth and lies.
Whether others believed it or not was not Jinye’s concern.
But how to explain…
Why would Iron Mark not seek anyone else but him?
Jinye furrowed his brows.
“This bastard isn’t trying to set up, is he?”
“If he is, I’ll deal with him sooner or later!”
…
Ti swiftly passed.
In the blink of an eye, it was five o’clock in the afternoon, the end of the workday.
When Brother Bi and Zhou Ye learned that Pei Jinye’s family was opening a hotpot restaurant, they imdiately declared that they would be there to show their support. Pei Jinye had no reason to refuse.
The three of them were making a ruckus when they happened to bump into Qiu Hezi coming out of the group leader’s office.
Qiu Hezi, having been squeezed out of his spot, didn’t show the slightest discomfort and, with a smile, asked the trio what the good news was.
Zhou Ye, never one to mince his words, blurted out the news about the grand opening of Pei Jinye’s family restaurant today, and Qiu Hezi imdiately expressed his desire to show support as well.
Pei Jinye couldn’t help but smile.
Four people piled into one car.
By the ti they reached East Street, it was crowded with people.
Zhou Ye was astonished, “Jinye, is this the ‘small shop’ you ntioned? It’s quite impressive.”
“It’s just the fancy decor that’s scary. The key is to see if the service is good and the hotpot is tasty. When the ti cos, my three great brothers better not be too proud to give so feedback if there’s any.”
Pei Jinye led the three of them into the restaurant.
Upon seeing Pei Jinye, Sun San, who was helping out, promptly ca over to greet him, “Brother Pei. I didn’t have much to do, so I ca over to lend a hand.”
“You’re working hard,” Pei Jinye patted him.
Sun San energetically insisted it was no trouble and then quickly got back to welcoming guests, also serving to deter any troublemakers who might be present.
…
The receptionist at the door announced:
“Tang Logistics congratulates Dahailao on its grand opening, and sends a pair of purple Liuli flower baskets.”
…
After settling down Brother Bi and the others, Pei Jinye stepped out of the private room, holding his phone with a laugh, “I heard it, why go to such trouble after coming all this way? Where are you?”
Tang Huoyang stood at the entrance, waving his hand.
Seeing the person behind him, Pei Jinye didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Auntie Liu Huilan had co, and so had Sun Ruofan.
“Aunt Lan,” greeted Pei Jinye with a smile, and took the opportunity to introduce her to Father Pei and Mother Pei.
While Aunt Lan was greeting his parents, Tang Huoyang leaned in and whispered, “The young lady heard about it and imdiately followed here.”
Pei Jinye ignored his suggestive eyebrow wiggling and looked toward the young girl standing before him, “I really appreciate your support. Right this way, please.”
The young girl, being reserved, didn’t follow Tang Huoyang and Liu Huilan into the private room.
Not long after,
Secretary Lin’s flower basket arrived, and he personally delivered it.
“Brother, the Governor had a high-level eting today and couldn’t make it, so he tasked with sending his congratulations. He wishes your culinary venture gold and silver every day and everlasting prosperity,” said Secretary Lin with an amiable smile. However, he added, “You’ve really not done right by us. You didn’t even give us a heads-up.”
Pei Jinye handed over two VIP cards from the front desk, “My apologies to Brother Lin. I didn’t tell anyone about this. I was thinking everyone has been busy lately… Well, it looks like we’ve still disturbed you. There are a few VIPs from the Investigation Team in my room. Would Brother Lin care to join us?”
“I’ll pass this ti. Next ti I’m free, I’ll definitely give it a try,” Secretary Lin glanced at the ti, “The Governor’s eting has started, I need to get back there. I’ll get in touch with you before my next visit.”
“Of course.”
After seeing Secretary Lin off, Pei Jinye spent so ti welcoming other guests.
Sun San had personally seen how Pei Jinye chatted and laughed with Secretary Lin, who was close to the Governor, and felt so exhilarated he almost wanted to cling desperately to Pei Jinye’s coattails at that mont.
This inspired him to call out even more enthusiastically.
Not long after,
Pei Jinye returned to the private room, spending ti with Brother Bi and the others for a while before visiting the next room. In short, he was running back and forth between them.
The intricate details of social niceties were finely managed.
Around seven in the evening, Tang Huoyang and his party took their leave, the two agreeing to get together again when they had ti to practice their skills.
As soon as Sun Ruofan heard the topic of practicing, she imdiately dodged their gaze, looking exactly like a student fearing howork inspection.
By eight in the evening,
Pei Jinye had Sun San enter the private room. The table was filled with people from the Investigation Team, most of whom were his own people, so he didn’t mind letting Sun San beco familiar with them.
Not long after,
Zhou Ye went out to relieve himself and soon returned at a run, puffing and pointing outside, unable to get a word out.
Sun San’s face changed, “Is there a disturbance?”
He stood up and expertly picked up a wine bottle.
Brother Bi and Qiu Hezi looked at each other.
Zhou Ye waved his hands, “No, no,”
Brother Bi noticed Pei Jinye’s expression and kicked Zhou Ye hard on the buttock, “Can’t you catch your breath and just spit it out in one go? Dammit, you’re making almost have a stroke here.”
“It’s that elder from last night… he’s here too,” Zhou Ye finally managed to say.
Upon hearing this, Brother Bi and Qiu Hezi imdiately stood up.
Simultaneously, they both exclaid,
“Holy shit!”
At this mont, Pei Jinye got up and patted Sun San, who was still holding the wine bottle, “It’s fine now, it’s one of the senior elders from upstairs.”
Sun San imdiately put down the wine bottle.
Pei Jinye opened the door, and everyone began to walk out.
Not far away in a corner of the main hall, an old man wearing a robe was talking to an enthusiastic waiter.
Zhou Ye and Pei Jinye exchanged glances.
By then, Brother Bi hade already approached the elder.
“Elder, what a coincidence,” he greeted.
If it wasn’t that elder, who else could it be?
He just exchanged greetings.
However, as the old gentleman was leaving after his al, the front desk handed him a VIP card, and his smile brightened even more.
Under a chorus of “Welco and please co again,” he left.
The old gentleman held up his phone and dialed a number, “See, I told you, my judgnt of people is always spot-on. Your little junior knows how to get things done.”
On the other end of the phone, Lin Xiawei touched her forehead, speechless.
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