Chapter 1332: Small Cleverness

Shisigui brought Xun, sat on an ox cart, and traveled for a long time before arriving at Tianzhu Town, where the Hua family resided. The Hua family's children had been waiting for a long time; seeing Shisigui arrive, they hurriedly invited them into the Hua family's large courtyard.

Shisigui had never been to any Landlord's home other than their own; after all, they were not in the same town, the distance was a bit far, and furthermore, they had no business that required them to go to someone else's home to discuss, nor was their relationship particularly good.

The only people with whom Shisigui had a relatively good relationship were two other Landlords; they were all people of the same generation, but they had never visited each other either.

Shisigui had thought the Hua family's large courtyard would be something different, but upon seeing it, it was not much different from their own home, and it even seemed smaller than their own courtyard.

Among the Landlords in Huaxia, the Hua family could not rank in the top three, but for some reason, it was actually Hua who initiated this gathering. Looking at the carriages, it seemed that several other Landlords had already arrived.

Sure enough, upon waiting in the living room and looking, besides Shisigui, there were two other people.

"Oh my, Brother Shisigui, you've come. Sit, sit quickly. I also invited several others, but I don't know if they will come. If they don't arrive in another hour, let's just start the meeting ourselves."

Shisigui chose a seat and sat down casually. Because the other two people did not speak, Shisigui also remained silent.

Although Xun was of the younger generation, first of all, they were a guest, and secondly, they were at least an official. Among these Landlord families, not many officials could be gathered, so Xun was also arranged a seat to sit down.

After a while, another Landlord hurried over. As soon as they entered the living room, they did not pay attention to Hua, but directly greeted Shisigui: "Oh my, Shisigui, you arrived even earlier than me!"

Shisigui also stood up, their attitude improving somewhat: "Oh, Captain, you've come too! Come, sit, sit quickly!"

Hua felt a bit awkward, but there was nothing they could do. One was Shisigui, and the other was the Captain of the Production Team Shisigui was in at the time. Both of them were veterans; in front of those two, the rest of them were all juniors and latecomers. If they didn't give them face, they had nothing to say.

A young man ran to Hua's side again and whispered: "Grandfather, Kao says they aren't coming."

Hua's expression remained as usual; if they didn't come, that was their loss. They had invited them, and if they didn't come, these people here would divide up those quotas.

Hua then returned to the role of the host: "Brothers, Kao doesn't intend to come, so now that we have these people, let's start talking. Now, the Landlords of Huaxia City can be considered to have all arrived."

A young man, who should have been the son of some Landlord, said with some confusion: "What about the people from Lema City? Why hasn't a single one come?"

"Why would we need them to come? We are here to discuss the affairs of Huaxia City; it has nothing to do with Lema City."

Once Hua said this, someone at the scene pulled a long face, especially Xun. This remark made Xun, as an official, quite unhappy. Although they also came here for the interests of their own family, it did not mean they lacked the awareness and cultivation of a Huaxia official. Hua's words were clearly squeezing Lema City out.

Lema City was an important and inseparable part of Huaxia. It was not that because it was a bit further from Huaxia City, it should be squeezed out. If that were the case, what should be done about other cities further away from Huaxia City? Wouldn't they be squeezed out everywhere? This was completely inconsistent with the King's development philosophy.

However, Hua clearly did not sense the wrong atmosphere, because the atmosphere here was not very good to begin with. Relying on their own bit of cleverness, Hua wanted to preside over the grand meeting themselves and wanted to take the lead, so that the few of them could divide up the quotas for the various departments this time.

But what they didn't know was that not a single person here intended to go along with them, because their idea was to see what Hua was actually trying to do, and they were also afraid that others would stir up trouble together and exclude them, which would affect them.

Now that everyone had arrived, the matter certainly wouldn't work out. Kao was at home discussing with their children; their family had already decided to compete for this Veterans Service Center, and they could ignore the rest.

Regarding Hua inviting them, Kao had only one thing to say: Hua, this fool, couldn't accomplish anything. If they made too much of a scene, the King might even punish them. After all, this was a matter that required competition; it wasn't something that could be divided up privately. If the King's expectations were not met, the King certainly would not hand over these projects.

To avoid getting into trouble, Kao simply didn't go. They also hoped that their two old companions wouldn't go; how good it would be if everyone stayed safe and sound.

Shisigui's temper was still as foul as ever in Hua's home: "Alright, stop saying those useless things. You called us from so far away; what exactly is the matter? Speak up. Hurry up and finish, we still have things to do when we go back."

Hua put on a great show, first having people bring tea to reflect their hospitality and highlight their etiquette, but in the eyes of others, it was a bit annoying.

"It's like this: didn't the King tell us that we could participate in the construction of those departments? So I thought, since we are all gathered together, we could discuss how these quotas should be divided. This way, we will have fewer disputes and less trouble; we can just get it decided quickly."

A junior wanted to speak, but was stopped by their father. Xun had some impression of that person; it seemed they were a section chief of some department, which counted as an official. They probably wanted to say something about Hua just now; after all, what Hua said was too wrong.

That Landlord stopped their son and directly asked Hua in return: "Then you tell us, how do you plan to divide it? Which department do you want to take for yourself?"

Everyone was in the mood to watch a show, but Hua was unaware and said very confidently: "The three most important departments must be divided by those of us present. Since Kao isn't coming, they don't have a share. The five of us will compete and divide those three; the remaining people can go run schools or hospitals.

I organized this meeting, so I have merit. Therefore, I can have a chance to choose first compared to you all. There's no problem with that, right?"

Everyone's expressions were strange. Shisigui looked at their Captain, and the Captain also looked at Shisigui. But the moment their eyes met, the two of them couldn't hold it in and started laughing loudly. This laughter made the atmosphere in the living room even stranger.

Hua felt their face had been damaged and was a bit angry: "Hey, I say Shisigui, Zhi, although you two are old-timers of our Huaxia and fought alongside the King, now we have the same status; we are all Landlords. You are neither officials nor Nobles. Don't always mock others just because you are senior.

Don't always think you are superior to others. As long as you don't have Nobility, then we are the same. You are no better than us. Those who are truly good are already Nobles by now, but you are not!"