Chapter 293 The Confidence of a Rookie in the Thunder-shocking Realm

When they reached the Number one courtyard in the Wudong New Area, it was right at dinner time.

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ was very familiar with the Council Court in the Wudong New Area; after showing their pa.s.s permit, they went all the way in. When the red sports car with an almost empty gas tank stopped in front of building number one, Dongcheng Qiuchi, who looked elegant and gentle, had come out the building to welcome them.

A young man in his early thirties stood next to her. The young man wore a pair of wire-rimmed specs and was dressed in a casual style, looking gentle and elegant, nice and friendly.

“Didn’t you arrive in the afternoon? What took you so long?”

Dongcheng Qiuchi asked softly, while stroking her sister’s head with a smile on her face.

She looked exactly like her mother. The similarity wasn’t in their faces, but in their soft, elegant and n.o.ble temperament; like a peony in the Zhongyuan Province, beautiful, graceful and poised.

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ looked at Li Tianlan.

However dull she was, she knew that what they did in the afternoon needed to remain a secret, then she said directly, “We were picking a gift for my sister and brother-in-law.”

Li Tianlan handed in a painting scroll with exquisite packaging and said with a soft laugh, “Sister Qiuchi, a small gift from us.”

It really was a small gift.

After they exited the Blue Sky Group, he and Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ randomly went to a Chinese Painting shop and picked a painting. The painter who wasn’t a big famous one, had just started to gain some fame.

The painting was worth less than twenty thousand yuan, and Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ paid for it with a credit card.

It was a painting about a roc’s flight of 10000 miles. High-level officials in politics would definitely love it.

Dongcheng Qiuchi looked at Li Tianlan with a smile.

Her smile was elegant and warm, but her stare at Li Tianlan was very complicated.

“We are a family.”

She casually took the painting scroll and said softly, “You don’t have to bring me a gift.”

Li Tianlan laughed and looked away.

Right after that, Dongcheng Qiuchi introduced. “Tianlan, this is my husband Zou Yuanshan; he brought a team to do an investigation in Huating and came to visit me while he’s here.”

“Sister Qiuchi and my brother-in-law are such a lovely couple, very enviable.”

Li Tianlan reached his hand and said with a smile, “Brother-in-law, I’m Li Tianlan.”

He had heard of the name Zou Yuanshan before.

He heard the name first from Dongcheng Qiuchi. Three years ago, Zou Yuanshan was still the mayor of Luojing.

The last time he heard of that name, he heard it from Tribulation. On the way from Qingdao to Zhongyuan, Tribulation calmly introduced the Giant Group, especially important figures who were close to the Dongcheng Clan to Li Tianlan, during which he mentioned the name Zou Yuanshan.

Zou Yuanshan, male, thirty-seven years old. Two years ago, he had taken a step up from the position of the mayor of Luojing; at the moment he was one of the directors of Zhongyuan Province, the leader of Luojing city.

In the political circle in Zhongzhou State, Zou Yuanshan and Dongcheng Qiuchi were considered a famous power couple, young and full of potential. They could be considered the targets of focus for all the financial groups in Zhongzhou State.

Zou Yuanshan was three years older than Dongcheng Qiuchi, but his promotion was somehow always a step behind his wife’s. It wasn’t because Zou Yuanshan had less potential and strength than Dongcheng Qiuchi; it was because of some special factors that stopped him from moving up.

Since Dongcheng Wudi had entered the Military Ministry, Dongcheng Qiuch’s speed of promotion would slow down, and Zou Yuanshan would enter his real breakout period.

What their future would hold mostly depended on how the three Giant Group, the Dongcheng Clan, the Zou family and the Bai family worked.

“We are a family, brother. Then I won’t call you Your Highness, since it sounds strange. Can I just call you by your name?”

Zou Yuanshan held Li Tianlan’s hand and said in a casual tone. He wasn’t a very handsome man, but he had that kind of friendly affinity in him, which made him refined and honest.

“Yes, please.”

Li Tianlan held Zou Yuanshan’s hand with a slightly bigger strength.

Under the night sky, the streetlight lit up the gate of courtyard number one.

The soft light of the streetlight poured down and made long shadows for them.

Two men shook each other’s hands face to face.

Their palms were close to each other in the shadow; they looked loose, but both of them were using quite a lot of strength.

They smiled at each other. Their smiles were innocent, their minds were also very innocent.

Zou Yuanshan didn’t expect that the young man in front of him would become his great help in his political career in the future.

Li Tianlan didn’t expect, either, that brother-in-law of his would become his biggest political support in the future.

Many final endings were destined in the first meeting.

The four of them walked into a villa in the courtyard number one.

The air-conditioning in the villa hall was on, the atmosphere was very cool.

“You guys have a chat.”

Dongcheng Qiuchi made a cup of tea for Li Tianlan and said with a smile, “Rus.h.i.+ and I are gonna cook; it’s almost done.”

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ agreed and followed her sister.

Zou Yuanshan took a out a bottle of Wuliangye spirit and pushed Li Tianlan’s cup of tea aside, then said with a soft laugh, “Qiuchi is ridiculous, she told you to feel at home here, but she’s treating you like a guest. Tianlan, tonight you’re gonna have a drink with me, and stay the night. We have plenty of rooms.”

His smile was friendly, but somehow Li Tianlan could feel hostility in him. He had seen that kind of smile when Li Baitian or Ning Qiancheng were pulling a prank. Li Tianlan laughed quietly, but he felt truly relaxed inside, then said with a smile, “Brother-in-law, me and Rus.h.i.+ staying here would bother your date with Sister Qiuchi?”

Zou Yuanshan froze, then laughed out loud. His face looked fresh and gentle, but at the moment his laughter was carefree and extremely infectious.

“We are an old couple now, we’re not as pa.s.sionate as you young people.”

Zou Yuanshan sat beside Li Tianlan and poured him a full gla.s.s of spirit, then he said mysteriously, “And Tianlan, you can relax. This place had great sound insulation effect. I heard that houses at West Hill are not as good. After discussing with her, we didn’t move there. If you don’t believe me, should I take you there to have a try?”

“No, thanks.”

Li Tianlan didn’t know how to react.

West Hill was where the Huating Council Court was located.

Dongcheng Qiuchi was one of the council members of Huating; she could be considered one of Huating’s overall leaders. But her actual position was the leader of the Wudong New Area, so she rarely got involved in the business of other areas in Huating. She was just there for voting. But her stable style had worked well in the Wudong New Area. She didn’t affect the whole Huating; it was also hard for other council members in Huating to affect the Wudong New Area.

Dongcheng Qiuchi living there was somehow a statement of her standpoint. Sound insulation was just a ridiculous excuse.

“Enough about that. Tianlan, you are the Heavenly Son of Zhongzhou State. About you and Rus.h.i.+, I fully support it.”

Zou Yuanshan patted Li Tianlan’s shoulder, raised his gla.s.s and said, “Come on, cheers.”

Two gla.s.ses filled with spirit touched each other; they both drank it up generously.

Zou Yuanshan put down the gla.s.s and looked at Li Tianlan with the same face, gave him a thumbs up and said while laughing, “You sit here, I’ll go get us some dishes that go with the liquor, then we can drink all night.”

Li Tianlan nodded. Looking at Zou Yuanshan’s back, he was deep in thought.

…

The sisters in the kitchen were in a different scene.

Dongcheng Qiuchi was cutting the vegetables. Looking at her sister was.h.i.+ng fruits near the sink, she laughed and said, “Rus.h.i.+, how did you come with Tianlan?”

“Ah?”

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ answered subconsciously, “Grandpa knew Tianlan was going to Zhongyuan, then he sent me to him fromYouzhou. So we came to Huating together.”

“What were you talking about in the ride? Did you talk about the marriage contract?”

Dongcheng Qiuchi looked at her sister’s back with a complicated expression and said quietly,

“No, we didn’t.”

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ told her the truth. They indeed didn’t talk much on their way.

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ seemed to remember something, then her clear eyes dimmed down. She said softly, “Sister, I did something wrong in Heaven Capital back then; he may be angry at me, so he doesn’t want to marry me anymore.”

“Nonsense.”

Dongcheng Qiuchi laughed and shook her head. “Tianlan is a generous man. How angry can he be that he doesn’t want to marry you? After all this time, the misunderstanding is already forgotten.”

“But he didn’t listen to my explanation. Since he got back from Heaven Capital, I did’t get to see him till today. We didn’t have a chance to talk.”

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ seemed to be very upset. “I was gonna talk about it with him, now I’m not sure anymore. If he’s still angry, maybe he will ignore me again.”

“What the h.e.l.l is going on?”

Dongcheng Qiuchi asked helplessly, “Tell me, I’ll sort it out for you.”

Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ shook her head silently.

“Okay, stop thinking about it. Tonight is a good chance, right?”

Dongcheng Qiuchi put the vegetables into the pot while laughing, then walked to Dongcheng Rus.h.i.+ and whispered into her ears. “I have a plan tonight. You guys stay the night, I already told your brother-in-law before you came. Now they are drinking; your brother-in-law can drink a lot. Later I’ll ask him to put down Tianlan; you just need to give him some sweet talk by then.”

…

In less than three minutes, Zou Yuanshan had brought two dishes of snacks over.

A dish of peanuts and a dish of cuc.u.mber. He sat down next to Li Tianlan and said with a laugh, “The sisters are talking about something in the kitchen. We still need to wait for dinner, so let’s drink first. Tianlan, I’ll have a good drink with you. I’ll tell you, in normal days, as soon as I got home, your sister would forbid me from drinking. Today I can finally drink all I want. Come on.”

Li Tianlan looked at that chatty brother-in-law, but he didn’t find him annoying at all. He shook his head, picked up his gla.s.s and drank up.

The gla.s.s was very big.

A gla.s.s could hold 50 grams of spirit.

With two gla.s.ses of spirit in his stomach, Zou Yuanshan’s stare suddenly became deep.

He poured another gla.s.s of spirit. “A toast to you. I don’t know much about the final battle of Heaven Capital, but I heard that you saved the whole game. I have to give a toast to you on this. The Heavenly Son of Zhongzhou State, this is a perfect t.i.tle for you, Tianlan. I respect it.”

“That thing was complicated, Brother-in-law, I’m not as n.o.ble as you think I am.”

Li Tianlan shook his head, he thought about the woman who watched the stars with him in Heaven Capital, that night, three years ago.

Apart from the mirage on the sea.

That was the last time he saw Qin Weibai.

She was more beautiful than the starry sky.

“No matter what, you deserve some credit.”

Zou Yuanshan ate a peanut. “If it wasn’t for you, Zhongzhou State would have faced a great loss. In these years, many people in Zhongzhou State had discussions about it. They said you lost all your foundation in Heaven Capital, so you had to hide from revenge. Tianlan, I don’t know a lot about Martial Arts. But now that you’ve come back, how’s your body healing?”

Li Tianlan froze.

Other people were confused about that question.

And so was he.

Because there was no reference for him on his path.

But that question wasn’t a secret to him.

So he thought about it seriously, then said slowly, “It’s hard to tell. Judging from realm, I’m roughly in the Thunder-shocking Realm?”

Twenty-two years old.

He had just entered the Thunder-shocking Realm.

Zou Yuanshan naturally didn’t know how old was the youngest superior of the Thunder-shocking Realm in the past two hundred years in the Dark World.

He had no concept about Martial Arts, but he knew that the Invincible Realm was above the Thunder-shocking Realm.

So he nodded with understanding. “That’s pretty good. That boy from the w.a.n.g family of Beihai seemed to have entered the Thunder-shocking Realm at your age now. You are no worse than him.”

Li Tianlan laughed.

He was still very far from the Invincible Realm in his plan.

If he wanted to reach it, there were still about three different stages.

According to the Four Realms of Martial Arts, the difference of three small realms was almost enough to get in and out of the Thunder-shocking Realm.

Of course, that was just the so-called realm.

Realm could prove a lot of things. But most of the time, a realm couldn’t prove anything.

“What are you going to do next?”

Zou Yuanshan clinked his gla.s.s with Li Tianlan’s.

The bottle of Maotai spirit on the table was empty.

So he opened another bottle right after.

“Graduation is my first priority right now. Now the Dark World is kind of messy. I’m just taking one step at a time,”

Li Tianlan said casually while drinking.

“Why don’t you join the Military?”

Zou Yuanshan suggested calmly. “My father-in-law is the number one leader of the Military. If you join the Military, it will be much better than fighting in the Dark World. And your strength is enough. Border Control Corps may be a nice place for you. It suits you.”

Li Tianlan stayed silent for a while, then said softly, “It’s hard to get into Border Control Corps these days.”

Dongcheng Wudi had turned the small Army Headquarter, Border Control Corps into a top force of the whole Zhongzhou State Military.

At the moment he was still the Commander of the Border Control Corps. But this position with actual power was already the focus of all the financial groups’ attention.

Giant Group also tended to make transactions with other financial groups with that position.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t keep the position, but using it for transactions would bring them more benefits. If they stuck to that position, even when the new Commander of Border Control Corps was someone from Giant Group, Dongcheng Wudi would still be in a pa.s.sive position in Youzhou. Some powerful figures in Giant Group would also be affected.

Like Zou Yuanshan in front of him.

“Nothing is hard. If you want to join them, you can do that any time. The worst position they can give you is Deputy Commander of a troop. Border Control Corps has always been the foundation of the Dongcheng Clan. Wouldn’t it be easy for us to put a man in?”

Zou Yuanshan said with care.

“But it doesn’t fit their benefit.”

Li Tianlan looked into his eyes. “It may also affect you, my brother-in-law.”

Zou Yuanshan froze. He looked at Li Tianlan with surprise. It seemed that he didn’t expect him to see things so thoroughly and clearly.

Then he shook his head. “Just two years late. I have advantage in my age, I have nothing to fear. I’m the son-in-law of the Dongcheng Clan. We are family; if I won’t trade two years of mine for a path for you, what kind of brother-in-law am I?”

Li Tianlan shook his head with a smile and raised a toast to Zou Yuanshan. “The Military is not for me.”

Zou Yuanshan frowned and didn’t say much.

Li Tianlan wasn’t stubborn.

When the Special Warfare Group and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai tried to smother the Special Warfare System, he knew that joining the Military and Border Control Corps was a good choice.

Apart from the question of whether Li Tianlan, who carried the glory of the Li family, was willing to do that, he would be able to pay back the Dongcheng Clan for what they did for him.

The relations.h.i.+p between him and the Dongcheng Clan would get exposed one day.

Once Li Tianlan joined the Border Control Corps, it would be a message from the Dongcheng Clan to the whole world that they didn’t want to give up the Border Control Corps.

That would block the path for a lot of people.

Zou Yuanshan would be the first victim.

Zou Yuanshan was the son-in-law of the Dongcheng Clan. But most importantly, he was the successor of the Zou family in Giant Group.

The Zou family was also a large family in Giant Group. His father Zou Mulin was a director of the hongzhou State Decision Making Committee; he didn’t have much actual power, but his ranking in t.i.tles was actually above Dongcheng Wudi.

Because Zou Mulin’s position was too high, Zou Yuanshan’s promotion needed to slow down due to public relations’ reasons.

But Zou Mulin was about to retire in a few days.

His retirement would definitely result in Zou Yuanshan’s rise in power. That was the rule; it was the so-called balance.

So, the few years before Zou Mulin’s retirement were very crucial.

If Giant Group used the Border Control Corps as bargaining chip to make transactions with other financial groups, Zou Yuanshan would surely gain a part of the benefits. At the moment he was the leader of the capital city of Zhongyuan. With one step further, he could be the Governor of the Province.

Giant Group had handed in the Border Control Corps; Zou Mulin’s promotion was easily accepted by the society. In that case, then Zou Mulin stepped down; even Zou Yuanshan couldn’t get into Decision Making Committee immediately. He could at least be the leader of a province and build a solid foundation.

But if Li Tianlan joined Border Control Corps and Giant Group turned down the transaction, Zou Yuanshan would be in an awkward position. In that case, when Zou Mulin stepped down, Zou Yuanshan would be…

The number one leader and number two leader of a province seemed to be in the same level. But actually, in the eyes of high-level officials, there was a huge difference between them.

To put it in a dramatic way, whether Li Tianlan went to the Border Control Corps or not would directly affect the highest spot of Zou Yuanshan’s future career.

And that wouldn’t be a simple question of a couple of years.

Also, the Special Warfare Group had been in charge of the Military Ministry for so long, currently their important figure Qi Beicang stepped down; the Special Warfare Group had gained a lot from that and had become more powerful. After Dongcheng Wudi attained the position, he was having a very hard time. Giant Group desperately needed to trade the army of five hundred and fifty thousand from the Border Control Corps for a lot of other bargaining chips and establish Dongcheng Wudi’s authority in Youzhou.

Whether Li Tianlan went to the Border Control Corps or not would affect the future trend of Giant Group.

Li Tianlan really couldn’t handle that kind of support.

If he listened to the Dongcheng Clan and went to the Military…

It would mean the Dongcheng Clan stood at the opposite side to Kunlun City and the w.a.n.g family of Beihai; there would be no holding back.

His success or failure in the future would also directly determine the rise or fall of the Dongcheng Clan, and even the whole Giant Group.

There wasn’t any superior of Invincible Realm in that kind of top wealthy family, but they had deep cultural foundation and a wide network. Their direct support would be more important than the support of the whole Sigh City, and it would be more influential to the general trend.

For the first time, Li Tianlan felt important.

But he would rather feel less important.

Li Tianlan shook his head and said softly, “I would rather stay in the Special Warfare System. That place is the most suitable battlefield for me.”

It was a battlefield.

A battlefield for him, instead of soil.

Even when he needed to face the w.a.n.g family of Beihai and Kunlun City alone in the battlefield, that place was the most suitable for him.

Li Tianlan’s eyes were calm.

Zou Yuanshan saw lights in his calm eyes.

That was the glory of absolute confidence.

He couldn’t understand. How could a rookie in the Thunder-shocking Realm be that confident?