The First Order

The palace could not lie to Ren Xiaosu, so gratitude tokens came with every sincere gratitude. If it wasn’t sincere, he wouldn’t receive any tokens.

No matter how earnest and sincere Zong Cheng behaved, Ren Xiaosu did not believe him. Even without the palace, Ren Xiaosu would still not have believed him. Otherwise, he would have lived a wasted life for the past 17 years.

Zong Cheng did not stay around for longer. Ren Xiaosu did not know what this guy was up to. He just smiled and answered whatever he said.

Yan Liuyuan watched as Ren Xiaosu clasped hands with Zong Cheng. All there was left to do was to take vows to become blood brothers with the other party.

After Zong Cheng finally left, Ren Xiaosu heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s really difficult dealing with these people from the strongholds. We all know that we’re just putting on an act, yet we still have to go along with it and cooperate with each other.”

“Bro, you were smiling very sincerely just now.” Yan Liuyuan laughed and said, “I seriously thought you were about to acknowledge him as your blood brother.”

“Don’t you know how capable your brother is?” Ren Xiaosu said proudly.

After sending off the visitor, someone knocked on the door again. Ren Xiaosu thought that rascal, Zong Cheng, had come back again. He immediately put on a smile and went to answer the door. When he opened it, he was almost about to shake the other party’s hand. “Bro!”.

Yang Yu’an, who was standing outside, looked at Ren Xiaosu in surprise. He did not understand what was happening.

“Hahaha.” Ren Xiaosu was embarrassed. “That was just a misunderstanding. Who are

you?”

Although Ren Xiaosu had gone to the gala the other night, Yang Yu’an only came out of the villa after he left the function with Yang Xiaojin. So Ren Xiaosu had not seen Yang Yu’an, nor knew who he was.

Yang Yu’an smiled and said, “Hello, my name is Yang Yulan. I’m Yang Xiaojin’s third uncle.”

“Oh!” Ren Xiaosu was stunned for a moment before quickly moving aside. “Please, come in.”

Ren Xiaosu was thinking to himself that it must have been this manchild who had invited him to the gala without giving him any prep time. He was probably trying to make him stay away from Yang Xiaojin when he did that.

But of course, Ren Xiaosu would not mention that explicitly. Yang Yu’an had personally come over with his bodyguards and subordinates following behind him. They entered the yard as well and kept watch on the surroundings.

Without waiting for Ren Xiaosu to say anything, Yang Yu’an started speaking. “I’m really sorry. My arrangements had not been properly thought out, so there was a lack of preparation when I invited you to attend the gala. The main issue was that this gala had already been in the plans for a long time. But since you just arrived at the stronghold, I was a little negligent in hosting you.”

Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “No, no, I’m just a refugee. It was great that I got to see what these parties are like.”

Wang Fugui watched their interaction through the window and mumbled, “Those two foxes.”

Yan Liuyuan chuckled and said, “My brother is no fox.”

“Then what is he?”

“A predator of foxes.”

At this moment, Yang Yu’an had someone bring the gifts over. “I didn’t prepare anything too lavish on my first visit, but I hope you’ll like it!”

“I like it, I like it. I like any gifts from you.” Ren Xiaosu laughed.

Ren Xiaosu waited for Yang Yu’an to get down to business. He did not believe the second-in-command of the Yang Consortium would come here just to pay him a visit and offer him gifts in apology. There was definitely something more important than that.

In the end, Yang Yu’an beat around the bush for half an hour before changing the topic to what he wanted to discuss. Ren Xiaosu really admired the patience of such people.

Yang Yulan said, “Xu Xianchu had been talking a lot about you for the past few days before he departed back to Stronghold 178. Are you close with him?”

“Yes.” Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “We went to the Jing Mountains together, and Xiaojin was there too.”

“Oh.” Yang Yulan seemed to have just found out about this. He then asked, “Do you know Commander Zhang then? Zhang Jinglin.”

Ren Xiaosu was taken aback a little. “Yes, I know him.”

Yang Yu’an smiled and said, “You and him…”

“He’s my teacher,” Ren Xiaosu said decisively.

It was Yang Yu’an who was startled this time. He had not expected Ren Xiaosu and Zhang Jinglin to have such a relationship. Teacher and protégé?

Ren Xiaosu had a calm expression on his face. Who wouldn’t know how to borrow someone else’s prestige to protect themselves? He had also used the silk banner Luo Lan had given him as protection from persecution. For Ren Xiaosu, the practical usage of such things was much more important. Gaining a few more of these amulets be much more powerful than anything else.

He would not bother to hide anything at a time like this. Since he knew Yang Yulan had thoughts of allying with Stronghold 178, it wouldn’t really matter if Ren Xiaosu decided to put on an act here. Besides, he was not lying about Zhang Jinglin being his teacher. Not only that, but he had also even worked with Zhang Jinglin before. Weren’t they both teachers of the school back in that town?

Yang Yu’an deliberated for a moment before saying, “Then why didn’t you go to Stronghold 178?”

“It’s not that I’m not going.” Ren Xiaosu said in a grave voice, “But I was planning on going there after some time. After all, there are more important matters to attend to, so I had Xu Xianchu head there first after giving him a recommendation letter.”

Yang Yu’an looked calm on the surface, but his mind was racing. Could Xu Xianchu be commanding such an important role in Stronghold 178 because of Ren Xiaosu’s recommendation letter?

It was no wonder that when Xu Xianchu heard Ren Xiaosu’s name, he did not even care how it would look to the gala when he took off in search of Ren Xiaosu!

Although, the more important thing Ren Xiaosu had mentioned was probably Yang Xiaojin, wasn’t it?

Ren Xiaosu also wore a calm expression. He did not feel guilty when telling the half-truths.

“It looks like Commander Zhang values you a lot.” Yang Yulan smiled amiably.

“I guess it’s not too bad. Teach once wanted me to take over his job, but the timing wasn’t right yet,” Ren Xiaosu said seriously. He wasn’t telling a lie. After all, Zhang Jinglin had indeed chosen him as the substitute teacher. He was planning on making him the teacher of the school.

However, it sounded different to Yang Yu’an. Did Zhang Jinglin really want this young man in front of him to take over Stronghold 178 in the future? The “timing wasn’t right yet” should mean that Zhang Jinglin was planning on grooming him some more. Many of the old-timers knew Zhang Jinglin worked at the grassroots level for a full ten years until everyone was convinced before he took over command of Stronghold 178. Therefore, this explanation made sense to Yang Yu’an. Zhang Jinglin had been chosen as the commander of Stronghold 178 even though he used to be a refugee. At Stronghold 178, it did not matter what your birthright was.

The way Yang Yu’an looked at Ren Xiaosu turned gentler. “You’re a promising young man.” He seemed to have completely forgotten what he had said to Yang Xiaojin. “I heard you’re also going on the expedition to exterminate the bandits?”

“Mhm. This is an issue for the Northwest, so of course I won’t hesitate to do it,” Ren Xiaosu said righteously.

“Good, good.” Yang Yulan reminded, “You must watch out for yourself. There’s no hurry to exterminate the bandits. I believe we can definitely get rid of the banditry issue in the future. Alright, I won’t stay around any longer. You should also be preparing to set off on your trip, so I’ll leave you to do what you need.”

“Thank you, Third Uncle,” Ren Xiaosu said.

Yang Yu’an’s smile grew wider at the words “Third Uncle.” Compared to the Zong Consortium, he was definitely hoping to work with Stronghold 178 much more. That was what true support was really like. If Stronghold 178 could offer him a helping hand, it would probably be a piece of cake to devour the Zong Consortium as well.

However, Yang Yu’an would not place all his chips on one person alone. He still had to verify the veracity of Ren Xiaosu’s claims.

But from the looks of it, his credibility was very high. After all, there was already Xu Xianchu’s testimonial.