Chapter 174

Qi Zhan's face showed a guilty expression, "Some nobles of the Sha Yue state escaped as fugitives, fled over there, I, the low-ranking officer... wanted to eradicate them completely, but... alas."

"That's how it is," Ning Jinli hurriedly comforted, "It's fine, you've already done well."

Qi Zhan however said, "It's not enough; this time we failed to exterminate the Sha Yue tribe, given their nature, they will likely still eye Daxuan covetously, leaving a hidden danger."

Ning Jinli thought, his words were indeed correct.

Even after two thousand plus years, the descendants of the Sha Yue tribe still jump around beside Huaxia, seizing any chance to bite Huaxia, purely a bunch of ungrateful white-eyed wolves.

"Rest assured," Ning Jinli said solemnly, "I guarantee to provide you help afterward so you can make up for this regret."

Qi Zhan rejoiced, "Really, Fairy? Please don't deceive me!"

Xiao Qidi spoke softly, eyes stern, "When has she ever deceived you? Do you not even trust her?"

"I, the low-ranking officer, dare not!" Qi Zhan hastily lowered his head.

Ning Jinli pinched the flesh on Xiao Qidi's inner arm, "Alright, stop scaring him; this time he achieved great merit, and earlier he had originally planned to assassinate you—you should really let bygones be bygones, right?"

"Am I that petty?" Xiao Qidi said helplessly, "Let you know, I have already appointed him as Expeditionary Grand General; once he recovers, I still expect him to continue campaigning for Daxuan."

"I, the low-ranking officer, will surely not disappoint His Majesty's high expectations!" Qi Zhan clasped his fists and spoke loudly.

Beside him, Lian Qingbai was startled by his sudden loud voice, muttering, "General Qi, you need to rest, emphasizing the word 'still'..."

Xiao Qidi and Ning Jinli both realized that Lian Qingbai was shooing people away, so as not to disturb the wounded's rest.

Thus they sensibly left.

Although the expedition to Yu Guo could be safely entrusted to Duan Wu, once the two countries go to war, the other five will surely keep watch, and if they find an opportunity, they might even seize the chance to strike at Daxuan.

Therefore, Xiao Qidi's truly busy days only now begin.

He must not only constantly monitor the progress of the campaign against Yu Guo, but also strictly guard against other states, and furthermore stabilize the situation in Daxuan from court to populace.

This time Ning Jinli came over, she only stayed alone with him for a short while before he had to go attend to business.

Ning Jinli could only mock herself, there's no help for it—who asked her to find a partner who is a ruler of a state, and moreover not an ordinary state ruler.

When Ning Jinli returned to the factory side, that bigwig from the State Energy Department had already left first.

Shangguan Ying also had to take her leave; before departing, she told Ning Jinli that this leader from the State Security Department would stay a bit longer in Xinghan City.

Ning Jinli then voluntarily took on the accompanying duty.

But this bigwig did not trouble Ning Jinli; that day he didn't even accept an invitation to dinner, and only the next morning did he call Ning Jinli to say he had something to consult.

Ning Jinli held her phone, gathered her full attention, "Leader, please speak."

"Little Miss Ning, don't keep calling me 'Leader'," the other party chuckled, "That's too formal; you already call General Shangguan 'Ying sister', my surname is Yang, you can call me Old Yang."

Ning Jinli readily agreed, "Sure, Old Yang."

Old Yang then said, "I have a younger brother who lives in Xinghan City; I want to go see him."

Ning Jinli asked in surprise, "You want to see him—is there some problem?"

"Ah, don't worry about me laughing," Old Yang sighed, "I haven't been in contact with him for over twenty years; even though I know he's developing here, I've never inquired about his situation."

Ning Jinli curiously asked, "Did you have a falling out with your brother?"

"Sort of..." Old Yang slowly explained the situation,

Old Yang and his brother, since childhood, lost both parents, had no relatives, and grew up depending on each other.

The brother disliked studying, went out to work early, and even earned money to support Old Yang's schooling.

Old Yang also worked hard; after graduating university he entered officialdom, rose steadily, and over twenty years ago had already risen from his hometown's small place to Xinghan City.

His brother then thought, relying on him to go through a back door, to smooth over connections and such.

Old Yang, without hesitation, decisively refused; thus the brothers parted on bad terms.

After saying these general circumstances, Old Yang felt despondent and helpless.

"In my life, the person I owe most is him, but I still absolutely cannot abuse my power for his sake, especially after becoming the head of state security, I must be extra cautious; therefore I had to cut off contact with him..."

"I know little about his situation over these twenty-plus years, after all I fear that caring would lead to confusion, and a moment's lapse could ruin my principles."

"Now I am old, I also heard he's doing well in Xinghan City, but his health is not great; I think, I don't know how many more times we might meet in the future, and since I happen to be in Xinghan City this time..."

Upon hearing this, Ning Jinli understood Old Yang's situation.

Indeed, it's quite difficult.

"Then, what help do you need from me?" Ning Jinli asked.

Old Yang pondered a moment, then said, "This time I want to go see my brother just as an ordinary person, as an elder brother, I won't bring any bodyguards, I hope Little Miss Ning will accompany me on a trip."

"Okay, no problem!" Ning Jinli readily agreed, "Shall I go meet you now?"

"Then I'll trouble you, I'm at..." Old Yang then gave a location.

Ning Jinli drove there, and half an hour later she picked him up on a street in the urban area.

Old Yang wore a very ordinary casual outfit; aside from his hair being neatly combed and him appearing upright and having presence, on the street no one would guess he is a high-ranking national official.

"Little Miss Ning, look, I specially got a pair of black eyeglass frames," Old Yang put on the frames, smiling, asked, "I normally don't need to wear glasses; does this make me look more different from my usual self?"

Ning Jinli observed carefully, then nodded, "That's right; if you don't stare closely, they indeed look like two different people."

"All good, all good," Old Yang said reassured, then added, "I still need to buy some gifts; I can't show up empty-handed, but picking gifts is something I'm really not good at."

"What does your brother like?" Ning Jinli asked while driving.

"Well..." Old Yang fell into thought, "When we were kids, he liked swords, spears, staves, clubs; of course, back then our family was poor, we couldn't afford decent toys of that sort, so we made them ourselves from wood, bamboo, etc.... Ah, sorry Little Miss Ning, I went off track; now we're both older, I can't buy those childhood toys we couldn't afford back then to give him."

"Then why not buy something he could actually use?"

"Something useful... uh, he's not short of money now, and I really don't know what to send that would be useful for him."

"Let me think," Ning Jinli pondered, "How about collectible cultural artifacts? Middle-aged and elderly men generally like that sort."

Old Yang nodded, "Come to think of it, he seemed already interested in cultural antiques and such when he was young, and he even ran a related business for a while; that should work."

"Alright, I'll take you to buy!"

"But don't take me to those overly high-end shops," Old Yang laughed self-deprecatingly, "Although my position is high-ranking, truly expensive cultural collectibles or even antiques are simply beyond my means."

Ning Jinli chuckled, "Rest assured, I know a good place where you can definitely pick out gifts that are both good and cheap."

Several minutes later, the car pulled up outside the Baoyuantang Antique Shop.

"We've arrived," Ning Jinli introduced, "This antique shop is under my company; the boss is Wu Sanye, very capable, with a keen eye—let him help you choose, and you won't be wrong."

Lao Yang looked through the car window at the closed shop door, "Is this place… not open?"

"Wu Sanye has been out of town on business these past few days; he just got back to Xinghan City this morning. I called him on the way to pick you up, so he should be arriving soon—probably within half an hour."

"All right, all right, thanks for the trouble."

The two waited in the car for Wu Sanye to arrive.

At the same time.

Su Qiang, who was still asleep in his hotel room, was awakened by a phone call.

He groggily picked up his phone, glanced at it, then answered and snapped angrily: "Damn it, calling this early to disturb my sleep! You're asking for death—I was drunk all night last night, don't you know?!"

"Qiang bro, qiang bro, calm down, calm down," the person on the other end said politely, "If it weren't urgent, I wouldn't dare bother you."

"Mm… so noisy…" a vulgar woman lying beside Su Qiang frowned and muttered.

Su Qiang lowered his voice, "You motherfucker, spit it out already."

"Brother Qiang, I just got the news—Wu Sanye has finally returned to Xinghan City, and he's currently on his way to his antique shop!"

"He's back?!"

Su Qiang jolted, leapt out of bed in a hurry, "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely certain! Our people have been tailing him ever since he got off the plane and left the airport!"

"Good, gather everyone and bring the gear!"

"Yes, Brother Qiang!"

Su Qiang hung up, then shouted excitedly, "Damn! Finally we can really go at it!"

"Ah, you're so noisy!" the woman on the bed grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Su Qiang.

Su Qiang broke into a grin, lunged at the woman, cupped her face, and planted a hard kiss, "My chance to shine has finally come! Do you know what this means?!"

The woman frowned, pushed him away, then idly picked up the cigarette box on the nightstand, took out a cigarette, lit it, and blew a smoke ring, saying, "You've said this eight hundred times—wasn't it just a month and a half ago, when you were hanging out with your friends, and then, uh… in front of Yang Shao, you got hit on the head with a beer bottle, yet you managed to snag a chance to help Yang Shao? My ears are calloused from hearing it! I don't know if you're telling the truth or not."

"Of course it's true!" Su Qiang also lit a cigarette, saying proudly, "If it weren't for that bastard Wu Sanye running out of town before I finished my preparations, I'd have already made my move! I'm telling you, now that he's back, I'll wreck his place later today. Once this is done, I'll definitely gain Yang Shao's favor!"

The woman pursed her lips, still wearing an indifferent expression.

She's always been after money; about a month ago she met Su Qiang at a bar, noticed he was free-spending and had a posse of lackeys, so she casually flirted and hooked him.

But later she discovered that this guy actually had no steady job, had kids at home, and a wife who wanted to divorce him.

His lavish spending came solely from a large sum of money given to him half a month ago by whatever Yang Shao's subordinate—his friend.

According to him, part of it was compensation for medical expenses and mental damages from the bottle strike to his head, and the rest was to hire people and prepare for whatever they were going to do.

By now his money is almost gone, yet there's been no sign of action.

The woman had already planned to cut ties with him today, so as not to waste her time looking for the next benefactor.

"You keep going on about Yang Shao, Yang Shao—just who is he?" the woman asked offhandedly.

Su Qiang said mysteriously, "I wasn't really clear on it before, but last night when I was drinking with my friend, he leaked some insider info to me—if I tell you, don't get scared."

The woman rolled her eyes, "Who are you trying to scare? I've seen all kinds of people."

"No, no, this will definitely shock you," Su Qiang said solemnly, "I'm not joking—sit tight and listen."

Seeing his unprecedented seriousness, the woman stubbed out her cigarette, sat up straight, and said, "Okay, go ahead—I'm all ears."

Su Qiang lowered his voice, "Yang Shao's father used to be a gangster in Xinghan City; everyone in the underworld had to call him big brother. About ten years ago, through various business dealings, he cleaned up his record and went legit."

"Tch," the woman said impatiently, "So he's just that kind of guy—at most a rich merchant; even if he's rich, can he really surpass the Four Major Families of Xinghan City?"

"Hear me out!" Su Qiang snapped, "Yang Shao's father is now retired; he recently handed over all his businesses to Yang Shao. Although he can't compare to top-tier families or big conglomerates, there's one thing: nationwide, there may be few who can match him."

The woman started getting dressed, muttering, "I think you're just blowing smoke—go ahead and keep boasting, I've got things to do, I'm leaving."

Su Qiang exclaimed anxiously, "Yang Shao's father's older brother—that is, Yang Shao's paternal uncle—is currently a high‑ranking official in the Ministry of State Security!"

The woman's motion paused slightly, her mouth forming an O, "You're really blowing it now……"

"What the hell am I blowing!" Su Qiang nearly swore to the heavens, "If I utter even a hint of falsehood, may thunder strike me! Otherwise, do you think Yang Shao could get away with acting so arrogantly in Xinghan City? My friends all said—Yang Shao's father has often used his brother's name to smooth things over!"

The woman pondered, "So… if you pull this off, it'd be like latching onto Yang Shao's thigh?"

"No ifs, I'll definitely pull it off!" Su Qiang crushed his cigarette butt hard, "I've had a grudge against Wu Sanye for ages; this time, with Yang Shao's backing, I can not only vent my own anger but also help Yang Shao vent his—two birds with one stone! In the future I could become Yang Shao's capable aide; having him as my backer is tantamount to having his uncle as my backer. Not just in Xinghan City—I could sweep the nation! I'll have both prestige and money!"

The woman grew increasingly excited, slipped off the half‑on skirt she'd just put on, and gave Su Qiang a smiling embrace, "If that's the case, you'd better not abandon me."

"Don't worry, I definitely won't leave you," Su Qiang said, swallowing his saliva, "I've already planned it—I'll divorce my wife after a while and then marry you. Happy?"