Chapter 456 – Family Banquet (First Part)
Zhao Hai sat in the carriage with his eyes closed. His face didn't express happiness nor sadness, he just held a calm expression. However, his heart wasn't very tranquil.
Megan was looking at Zhao Hai with a somewhat uneasy feeling. Zhao Hai had been like this ever since they went out of the Robert Family's shop. Seeing Zhao Hai closing his eyes made her restless.
Megan was not afraid of anything else but Zhao Hai misunderstanding her relationship with Terry. In fact, she and Terry were childhood friends. But when she transferred to Sky Water City, their interactions became minimal. After seeing him after some years, she saw that something changed with Terry. Smith also opposed to her meeting up with him. Since Megan didn't have any particular feelings towards Terry, she also slowly drifted away from him.
Later on, with the exception of relatives and those belonging to great powers, all men who came in contact with Megan had suffered bad luck. Moreover, she also heard that these seem to be caused by Terry.
Megan wasn't worrying about Zhao Hai's safety, but seeing how calm Terry was today made her very nervous. She was afraid that Zhao Hai might misunderstand. So she just sat there soundlessly, becoming more nervous as time passed by.
Laura naturally noticed Megan's expression. She was a perceptive woman so she immediately understood what Megan was thinking. However, she thought that Megan's worries were all useless. She believed that Zhao Hai's thoughts weren't on those matters. In order to not make Megan worry, Laura asked Zhao Hai, "Brother Hai, what are you thinking about?"
Zhao Hai opened his eyes and looked at the group before saying, "This Terry isn't very simple. I can see that this guy looks very enthusiastic when meeting Megan. But when his gaze wanders to me, he would reveal a small killing intent, and manages to hide it quite well. And the fact that he didn't make any moves while doing business with us made me think that he isn't a good person to deal with. I think he would use underhanded methods to take a shot at me."
When she heard Zhao Hai, Megan relaxed. It seems like Zhao Hai didn't suspect her relationship with Terry.
Megan let out a long sigh and said, "Big Brother Hai, it's alright, there's no need to fear Terry. Although Terry is the first in line successor for the Robert Family, he wasn't someone who can cover the skies with one hand. Those in higher positions in their family are also keeping a keen eye on him. The Robert Family isn't like mine, the heirs of the family all came from the grandsons, making their status quite high. Even if Terry is indeed a grandson of the current Patriarch of the family, there were a lot of grandsons who held the same right to succession like him. Once he does something wrong, the family wouldn't hesitate to abolish his status as first in line and would just give it to another one. But their family doesn't have a testing phase like ours, the family's heir immediately becomes very powerful."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Naturally, I don't fear him, but I really don't want to reveal my strength. Because of this, Terry's actions might give us a bit of trouble. Don't forget, even if I'm engaged to you, in the eyes of the Rosen Empire, I am an outsider. If I do reveal my hand just to deal with Terry, those nobles might join up to deal with me. When that time comes, I'm afraid that even Calci Family wouldn't be able to help me."
Megan didn't oppose, instead she agreed. Now that she had more contact with this aspect of the world, she naturally understood the power of the nobles. If those nobles did ally up to deal with Zhao Hai, then Zhao Hai's troubles certainly wouldn't be small. Let alone the Calci Family, even the Rosen Imperial Clan wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Laura also nodded, then said, "Right, Brother Hai is right to be worried. But I'm afraid Terry knows about this too, so if he decides to begin to move, it would certainly be troublesome."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "This person is very sinister and manipulative. We should take care and pay more attention to his future actions."
Megan nodded, "Big Brother Hai, I will say this matter to Grandpa, making him take note of this as well. If Terry dares make a move on you, then we wouldn't spare him."
Zhao Hai looks at Megan and smiled, "What happened? I thought that you have a good impression with that fellow? Did he offend you?"
Megan shook her head and said, "He didn't, but I heard about how sinister he was, not just from what I heard from Brother Hai. Father told me that since our families are close friends, the two of us grew up together. In the past, our relationship has been good, and after I moved to Sky Water City, out communications have been cut short. But we still see each other everytime I go to the capital. Afterwards, Father told me that he is too sinister, and to not make contact with him. Because of that, I slowly drifted away from him."
Zhao Hai nodded, "Uncle Smith must have known something. We must seriously be careful with Terry, this person hides too much." While they were talking, the bull-pulled carriage arrived at the foot of Dark Mountain.
Megan thought for a moment and said, "Brother Hai, I think there would be a lot of banquets in the city. Terry will definitely participate in them, you must be careful whenever you attend one."
Zhao Hai nodded, "Be relieved, if worse comes to worst, I can just exterminate his Robert Family, hmph."
Megan didn't think that Zhao Hai was lying, if Terry really does provoke Zhao Hai too far, the Robert Family surely wouldn't fare very well. Not only the Robert Family, even the entire Rosen Empire can be turned upside down by Zhao Hai.
Before long, their carriage stopped on front of Dark Soldier Fort. After the group changed vehicles, they entered the fort and proceeded to Rustling Tree Courtyard.
When they arrived at the courtyard, a servant immediately greeted them, "Young Master, Young Lady, the Patriarch conveyed a message. Tonight, our Calci Family would be doing its Family Banquet. Everybody must participate."
Megan nodded and said, "Alright, you can head back." The servant nodded and then turned away.
Zhao Hai smiled bitterly and said, "I'm going to say it, this feast wouldn't be better than eating at home."
Megan smiled, "This Family Banquet isn't much different than normal banquets. This feast is done by the family every year, even servants participate. When the event comes, people would go to the main square and loosen all tensions regarding their status. Everyone will sit and drink with each other, it is the Calci Family's most popular party."
When Zhao Hai heard Megan, his eyes turned bright as he said, "That's good, I must prepare well. Right, we bought a lot of snacks today. We should contribute those to the banquet, let's go tell Grandpa Gan."
Megan nodded and smiled, "Alright, let's go see Grandpa Gan. While we're at it, we should also give Grandpa Green the goods that we bought earlier. Iron Mountain Fort will also have their festivities, it would be great if Grandpa Green receives those much earlier."
Zhao Hai nodded, he looked around and said, "Right, Blockhead, Rockhead, you two also head back to Iron Mountain Fort and help Grandpa Green and the others." The two nodded, then Zhao Hai led his group as they vanished into the Space and headed back to Iron Mountain Fort.
Iron Mountain Fort will also be celebrating God's Grace Day. Although the things here were still very crude, Zhao Hai still felt the warmth coming from this place. The people in the fort stopped their work and went busy on cleaning up and getting new clothes for themselves and their families. While they were getting ready to eat, everyone's face were full of smiles.
This was no mystery, because they were slaves, they weren't able to experience God's Grace Day. Although they knew when the day was, their master told them that God's graciousness doesn't reach to lowly slaves. Because of this, for them, God's Grace Day was just any ordinary day.
Zhao Hai looked at the people and became very happy. He found Green and handed the things he bought over. He also left Green a lot of seafood, even a Blade-Scale Whale. This thing was huge, Zhao Hai wanted Green and the others to eat this fish and have a very nice evening.
After leaving the things behind, Zhao Hai and the others returned to Rustling Tree Courtyard. No matter what, they were living inside the Calci Family right now, leaving this place for too long won't be ideal.
After returning to the courtyard's living room and sitting down, Megan turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Brother Hai, do you plan on returning to Iron Mountain Fort on God's Grace Day?"
Zhao Hai thought for a moment and then said, "I think I must go back, but I'm afraid that there would be a lot of things happening. Right, what do you usually do during God's Grace Day?"
Megan replied, "Actually, God's Grace Day is the most boring day. Grandpa and Father would be going to the imperial palace to attend a banquet. And they would come back very late. At the same time, we would be having a delicious meal and then after lighting some incense, we were free to do what we want."
Zhao Hai's eyes lit up, "I didn't think that it would be that free. Then after we eat our meal and lighting some incense, we can just return to Iron Mountain Fort, what do you think?"
Laura nodded and said, "That's also good, but Megan seems to have a lot to take care of during that time. Can you spare some?"
Megan nodded and said, "Rest assured, I also want to go to Iron Mountain Fort and celebrate God's Grace Day with Big Brother Hai. I want to look at how they will celebrate."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I would also like to see how they'd do it. Among those people, aside from Grandpa Green's group, it would be everybody's first time to experience God's Grace Day. I'm looking forward to it."
Laura and the others chuckled. Besides Green's group, there were only human and beastman slaves in the fort. Beastmen celebrate their ten thousand beast festival while the human slaves only experience God's Grace Day as any ordinary day. Both of them weren't able to celebrate it before.
Chapter 457 – Family Banquet (Last Part)
After reaching an agreement, Zhao Hai and the others came out of Rustling Tree Courtyard. They wanted to look for Gansu in order to hand the delicious snacks over and have them served during this evening's feast.
Gansu was busy in the kitchen, he was truly busy today because he handled the preparation for tonight's banquet. All the people in Dark Soldier Fort would be participating, the servants will be participating in the eating and drinking. Therefore, there were a lot of food that were needed to be prepared ahead of time.
Zhao Hai looked at Gansu who was about to drink something and then said, "Grandpa Gan, you're looking quite busy."
When Gansu heard Zhao Hai's voice, he turned his head to Zhao Hai and smiled, "Boy? Why are you here? Want to ask me to drink? Today's no good, I have a lot to do, let's do it another day."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Grandpa Gan, do you really see me as a drunkard, wanting to drink everyday? I'm here to do you a favor, you don't need to prepare a lot of food. When we went out earlier, Megan led us to snack street to have some food. I bought a lot of Carson City's unique snacks. We can add those to this evening's feast." Then he waved his hand as a pile of snacks appeared.
Gansu's eyes turned bright when he saw the snacks. One should know that the snacks of Carson City aren't considered to be commoner food. These things are widely famous in the continent, even Gansu liked them. They were a very good pair to liquor.
While thinking of that, Gansu immediately said to Zhao Hai, "Good, but you don't need to take them out right now. These snacks aren't proper meals. You can take them away and then serve them yourself in the evening."
Zhao Hai listened to Gansu's advice and didn't disagree. He nodded and received the snacks, then he led Megan and the others to head back.
Time quickly passed as evening came. Smith had someone call Zhao Hai over and then the group headed to the main square.
Usually when a large group of people live together, one couldn't really fathom the amount of people present. All the people inside Dark Soldier Fort numbered towards several thousand people, this wasn't a small number.
As soon as Smith's entourage arrived, the servants and guards present immediately came to greet him, some gave a salute while some gave a bow. Smith was also very polite to these people, he gave well-wishes to these people and also chatted with them for a bit. This made Zhao Hai surprised, for Smith to remember the names of these people was something worthy of admiration.
Zhao Hai then knew that something as small as remembering ones name can make people have a favorable impression towards you. Especially someone with a position like Smith, for a master to remember the name of a servant would surely give him a high evaluation among the servants, making him occupy a special place in their hearts.
Zhao Hai, Kristen and Diya followed beside Smith. However, Megan and the others followed the madam to go greet the women on the other side.
Inside the fort, there were a lot of people who hadn't seen Zhao Hai. Now that they did, they were somewhat disappointed, Zhao Hai looked very ordinary, in their opinion, Zhao Hai seemed to be unworthy of marrying Megan.
Megan wasn't only liked by Smith and the other members of the Calci Family. Even the servant in the fort had a very good impression of her because of her good nature. She never treats the servants wrongly and was very kind to others. The servants in the castle liked Megan very much.
Zhao Hai didn't care about what they thought about him. When Smith introduced him to the servants, he greeted them with a smile along with a salute. Seeing Zhao Hai give them a salute, the servants immediately returned the gesture, their impression of Zhao Hai also went a bit better.
These people are simple, if you respect them, then they'll respect you. Naturally, to get their respect, you must understand how to respect them. In addition, Zhao Hai was something like a half-master to them. Even though they didn't exchange some words, the servants were still touched by his gesture.
Before long, the people from the other parts of the fort also arrived. The people in the square became more and more. At this moment, there were already several bonfires made in the square, giving it proper illumination. The normally cold square was given warmth by the fires.
There were large tables placed right by the bonfires. Each table can sit several people, Gansu was also present arranging the seats for the guests.
Almost everyone didn't need to be led to their seats. After all, the Family Banquet was an occasion that happens every year. It was one of the most important events for the family, everyone already knew where they would be sitting. After having everyone sit down, Gansu immediately had the servants serve the dishes.
After the servants have served the food, they immediately looked for their table and sat down. Then it was time for Randolph to speak, this was also part of the event's proceedings.
After having all the dishes served, Randolph stood up and scanned the people in the square. Then he said loudly, "This year has brought abundant harvests to our Calci Family. We have gained new stable income sources as well as the most important event where we made those Radiant Church people suffer a loss under our hand. Our Calci Family had finally expelled some foul air."
After this section of the speech, the square was filed with thunderous applause. These servants were the descendants of the previous servants of the Calci Family. Their honor and disgrace were closely linked with the family. In the past, when the family was overly suppressed by the Radiant Church, they found it hard to stay calm. When the family finally managed to turn the tides of battle over, causing the Church's influence in the Rosen Empire to be erased, it was natural for these servants to feel excitement.
When the applause subsided, Randolph then said, "This year, our Calci Family's little princess Megan has also been engaged to the Buda Clan's Patriarch Zhao Hai. Our little princess has grown up, it is finally time for her to get married."
After he said that, the square became lively. Many people loudly cried as well. Regarding the Calci Family's rules, the servants need not follow them this time. Therefore, these people dared to be quite rowdy.
Megan didn't think that Randolph would actually address her engagement at the family banquet. Her face couldn't help but redden, but she still stood up. Seeing Megan stand up, Zhao Hai stood up as well. After giving the people in the square a bow, the two of them sat down.
The performance of Zhao Hai satisfied Randolph, he nodded and the continued, "In short, it has been a very good year for our Calci Family. Right, no need for more words. Everyone, let's eat!" Then he sat down.
Seeing the people starting to eat, Zhao Hai immediately stood up and carried a wine glass towards Randolph's table. Along with Randolph, the table contained the people with the highest status in the Calci Family, Smith was also in that table. In the table that Zhao Hai sat in were the people from Smith's side.
While carrying a glass of wine to Randolph's table, Zhao Hai bowed and then said, "Grandpa Randolph, elders, this is the first family banquet that I attended so I came unprepared. When I went out earlier, I managed to buy some snacks with Megan in snack street. I initially wanted to give them to Grandpa Gan earlier, but he told me to give it to the people myself, so that I can get more acquainted with them. I came here to offer them to your table first and then proceed to the others. I just don't know if Grandpa Randolph agrees."
Randolph laughs and said, "Who wouldn't want Carson City's snacks, it is very famous in the continent. I've always wanted to eat them for quite a long time, good, leave some here."
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and then waved his hand as two trays of snacks appeared, carrying several types of snacks. The quantity aren't that many, but the variety was quite a lot.
Zhao Hai placed the trays on the table and then bowed to them and said, "Grandpa Randolph, please enjoy the snacks. I'll be heading to the other tables to deliver them."
Randolph nodded and said, "You go, give some to the people." Zhao Hai nodded, then he turned around to leave.
Zhao Hai proceeded to send snacks to each table. Although there weren't a lot, it still held some meaning, especially to the servants. Zhao Hai also chatted with them, gaining the servants' good graces. Currently, Zhao Hai became even more pleasing to their eyes.[1]
Upon finishing to deliver the snacks, Zhao Hai already knew most of the servants' names. He also came to know the names of the Calci Family members.
Even if Zhao Hai's memory was much worse that Smith, he has the Space. If Zhao Hai cannot remember, the Space's recording function can certainly remind him. The Space can even record the entire continent, much less names of people.
Zhao Hai got this move from Smith. After all, Zhao Hai was a nerd, his social skills couldn't compare to someone who had noble education since childhood. Zhao Hai gave his best to learn about his deficiencies.
After delivering the snacks, Zhao Hai returned to his own table. The madam looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, "Little Hai, you really are quite sensible. Right, go sit down and quickly eat something. You seem to be the busiest one this evening."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Wouldn't it be great to offer some snacks? I just want the family to be more lively, haha. Alright, let's eat."
Because the people on the table were all considered to be family members, everyone wasn't polite with each other. They chatted while eating and drinking, the night's events became livelier and livelier.
The family banquet continued on until midnight. People enjoyed themselves fully, there were a lot of drunk people by the end. Because of this, the square wasn't cleaned up, they needed to wait until tomorrow to do so. This was also something of custom that the Calci Family practiced.
Zhao Hai and the others didn't drink a small amount either. Zhao Hai didn't expect for the servants to come over and offer him some liquor. It was not only him, even Randolph was approached for some drinks. On this event, Zhao Hai managed to cement his foundation inside the family as he ate and drank with everybody. Also, because of the liquor offerings, Randolph was the first to get drunk.
Moreover, Zhao Hai knew that Randolph wasn't just pretending to be drunk, he was truly intoxicated. This made Zhao Hai surprised, under normal circumstances, old foxes like Randolph would pretend to be drunk so that he wouldn't be offered more drinks. But at this time, he actually let go of himself and got drunk with the servants. This gave Zhao Hai insight as to how the family treated its subordinates.
Do the math ladies and gentlemen, how tf can Zhao Hai deliver snacks to several thousand people? *countdown timer sound starts*Chapter 458 – Same Camp
Although it just seems like a normal family banquet, Zhao Hai had learned a lot from the event. Although he was well-read, there were still some things that he needed to learn about management.
The next morning, Zhao Hai and the others came out of the Space. When he went out to the courtyard, he saw Smith. Seeing Zhao Hai, Smith smiled and said, "Just got up? Didn't you drink a lot yesterday? Hangover?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "Fortunately, I've had some soup to sober up yesterday evening so I'm still fine. How about Uncle, are you fine?"
Smith smiled bitterly, "On this day of the year, it's perfectly fine to go all out. RIght, let's eat a meal together."
After breakfast, Zhao Hai and the others prepared to head out and see the situation at Carson City. Suddenly, a servant came outside the door carrying a card. He bowed to Zhao Hai and said, "Young Master, a letter came from Prince Charlie. It was sent over by his servant."
Zhao Hai nodded and then received the card to take a look. It was an invitation to a banquet that Charlie was hosting tonight, addressed to Zhao Hai.
Zhao Hai slightly frowned, he nodded then said, "Alright, tell the servant that I'll be coming." The servant gave a nod and turned away.
Zhao Hai stared at the invitation, he wasn't afraid of meeting anyone, he just didn't like attending banquets. But on the other hand, he also knew that he cannot dodge them because of his current status.
He sighed and stored the invitation. At this moment, Laura and the others came in chatting and laughing, they just came back from a small expedition to Rustling Tree courtyard's garden.
The group of women came to see that Zhao Hai's expression wasn't good. Laura can't help but be curious so she asked, "Brother Hai, did something happen?"
Zhao Hai faintly smiled as he handed the invitation over to Laura. When she received the card, she smiled and said, "This is great. It seems like Charlie wants to introduce you over to his subordinates. Moreover, this is a formal invitation, this meant that a lot of people will be coming tonight. You might see a lot of people from Great Noble families."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I already knew about the possibility of me meeting Great Nobles. Charlie wanted to brand me as someone from his side, letting people know that we're on the same camp. Megan, you shouldn't go this evening, I'm afraid this might have an impact on the Calci Family."
Megan shook her head and said, "No, I'm going. Brother Hai, with you, everything will be fine. Besides, even if they suspect the Calci Family to be supporting Charlie, what can they do about it? If the prince manages to lose the battle, then with you supporting him from the back, nobody would dare go too far in dealing with him. Also, with you on his side, I think Charlie has the greatest chance of obtaining the imperial throne."
Zhao Hai looked at Megan, then he smiled and said, "Alright, then everyone will go. Right, we should buy some clothes, we cannot shame the Buda Clan."
Megan smiled and said, "No need, I can just ask the family to get Big Brother Hai some new garments." Then she turned around to tell a servant to find someone from the clothes storeroom.
Laura looked at Zhao hai and said, "Brother Hai, it is certain that Terry would be attending this banquet. He may find some opportunities to smear your face. We should be careful this time, that Terry person is sinister. He may not act, but he might have some subordinates doing the deeds for him. After asking Megan, it seems like the Robert Family doesn't have a low status in Rosen Empire."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "I know, rest assured nothing will happen. Right, let's go prepare." Laura nodded.
Before long, a person from the clothes room came and took Zhao Hai's measurements. An evening black suit was then sent over immediately.
The suit was a very traditional Noble clothing. It had very fine workmanship, it even had the Buda Clan's crest embroidered over it. Zhao Hai didn't expect the Calci Family's people to be so fast. With this point, Zhao Hai can see the difference between new and old noble families.
Zhao Hai's group tried on their clothes and saw that they were perfect. Because of the small notice, Zhao Hai went to tell Smith about this matter, but he didn't think that Smith would already know about it. Turns out, the Calci Family also received an invitation.
The skies slowly turned dark, Zhao Hai's group rode his bull-pulled carriage and headed towards Carson City. Since it was God's Grace Day season, the gates of the capital weren't closed during the evening. But the passage in and out of the city were instead heavily monitored.
Shun already knew the way to Charlie's mansion, so he didn't need anyone's guidance. He directly drove the carriage towards the Third Prince's palace. While on the way, Zhao Hai and the others could see the amount of carriages present.
When the carriages passed by and noticed Zhao Hai's bull-pulled carriage, some of them stopped and offered Zhao Hai their greetings. Zhao Hai took note of these people, they may be Charlie's people.
Before long, Zhao Hai's carriage stopped in front of Charlie's front door. The servants in charge of welcoming the guests immediately greeted him when they saw his carriage, on of them came forwards and bowed, "Mister Zhao Hai?"
Zhao Hai opened his door and looked at the servant, "I am Zhao Hai."
The servant immediately said, "Sir, let me lead you to the backyard. His highness ordered me to inform Mister that you shall enter the mansion's back door. Whenever mister comes here next time, he can immediately head over there."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Lead the way." The servant nodded and then walked alongside the carriage as it was lead towards the back door.
The back door of this mansion wasn't a place that people can just pass through. Generally, except the direct family, no other person can come here. This was because this door has direct access to the main courtyard, the center of the mansion.
After entering the back using the back door, the servant immediately led Zhao Hai's group towards the living room. Upon arriving, Zhao Hai saw Charlie standing in front of the room's door along with several people. These people also wore formal clothing, along with their emblems. Looking at them, Zhao Hai found out that their titles aren't high, they didn't have the bearing of someone coming from a Great Noble family.
Zhao Hai, along with Laura, Meg, Megan and Nier, came forwards and gave Charlie their greetings. Charlie smiled and said, "Little Hai, you came. I actually had somebody send over a carriage as a substitute to your bull-pulled carriage. Don't you think that your carriage is a bit too slow?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "You're highness, in all honestly, I really prefer my bull-pulled carriage. I think I won't be comfortable with his highness' carriage, it is too fast and less stable. I'm just not used to it."
Charlie smiled and said, "That's fine as well, come, let's go to the living room , I have some people I need to introduce you to."
Zhao Hai entered the room with Charlie. At the same time, Laura and the others were lead by a servant towards the side halls. There, people of the other Nobles were staying,. Some were like Zhao Hai, bringing along several women to attend the banquet.
After entering the room, Charlie introduced some people to Zhao Hai. In fact, Zhao Hai was already familiar with some of them. When Zhao Hai opened his shop in Jade Water City, these people came over and expressed their well wishes, therefore, Zhao Hai were aware of their appearances.
When their greetings came to an end, they sat down. Charlie looked at the people present and said, "I welcome all of you today and I also express my gratitude in accepting my invitation. I will not beat around the bush and directly tell all of you that everyone present here are all the people that I have placed my full trust in. We're all on the same side, so I hope that all of you can be more acquainted in the future."
Zhao Hai nodded as he smiled and said, "Certainly, your highness can feel relieved, we're on your side. If something goes wrong, we surely won't be bringing the trouble to you."
A tall person sitting by Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Yes, Mister Zhao Hai is right, Your Highness can rest assured."
This person was from the Yinmi Family. The family can be regarded as an emerging clan. Their family was a hundred years old and held the title of count. Even if they only had the status of a count, they were actually a military family, a family of generals. Their troops were also very good. But since the Rosen Empire was the continent's most powerful nation, there weren't a lot of people who dared to provoke them, making wars quite scarce. Because of this, the family had no chance of displaying their might making it impossible for their title to be promoted.
This person was called John Yinmi, a typical martial artist with a frank temperament. But because of his disposition, the Yinmi Family had been having some bad years lately. John was not good at business, and the income from their territory wasn't that great.
But Zhao Hai actually took a liking to this person. There were only a few nobles with tempers that are straight just like John. This was because such attribute is very disadvantageous for a noble to have.
The people present also agreed to what Zhao Hai and John just said. Charlie nodded and then said, "Father is still in his prime, but even if he tolerates us having our own groups, he doesn't like to see us flaunting our influence. Your families don't belong to the core of Rosen Empire's power, so I hope you don't attract too much attention to yourselves. At the same time, I hope you also pay attention to others. But be careful with your actions"
Several people nodded, Charlie continued, "Mister Zhao Hai joining my side certainly brought a huge effect on my standing. My brothers doesn't have any 9th rank experts, they didn't even have the capacity to invite one. Thus, mister's help was truly big. But this also drew jealousy from my brothers, even father may start paying attention to me. So I hope that all of us can stay low-key, do not make any moves that can attract attention."
When Zhao Hai heard Charlie, he couldn't help but be apologetic, "I have given his highness some troubles, Zhao Hai has been inconsiderate."
Charlie waved his hand and smiled, "No, mister is just showing his own strength. Although it brought me small trouble, its effects aren't really that big, so mister doesn't have to worry. On the contrary, with Mister's strength, people who wanted to make a move on us would have to think twice. This is already a huge help."
Those present also nodded, they agreed with Charlie's words. Among the Princes, the Crown Prince in the capital city can be said to have the biggest influence. The Second Prince has also been exhibiting his talents these past few years. Charlie handles his affairs quite low-key, to the point that he seemed unremarkable. This made people who wanted to hire themselves to him think that Charlie's strength wasn't that big.
However, Zhao Hai joining made thing a whole lot different. Zhao Hai managed to invite a 9th rank expert, moreover, his undead also held formidable fighting strength. Most importantly, he was also the Calci family's son-in-law. With this status, now many people in the continent dared to underestimate Zhao hai.
Zhao Hai coming to Charlie's side made people think twice about their evaluation of the Third Prince. Some small nobles who were waiting at the sides already threw themselves towards Charlie's door. Now, Charlie's people had already reached quite a substantial number.
But Charlie understood that even if his numbers increased, those who were truly loyal to him were only few. The majority of them were just like tall grass, although their numbers looked menacing, when it came to use, only a few were qualified.
Because of this, Charlie maintained his policy of acting low-key. Zhao Hai admired him for this. Zhao Hai also knew about Charlie's recent momentum, he was actually afraid that the Third Prince would be swallowed up by this increase of power. It seems that Charlie put much thought into it.
Zhao Hai looked at the group and smiled, "Your Highness, I know that you're just saying that to lift my spirit. But if there really is anything that I can do to help in the future, please don’t hesitate to send a word to me. We are all in the same camp, we ought to help each other. Right, Brother John, since we still have to wait until God's Grace Day, how about we discuss about a partnership. I have a lot of good products on hand, maybe Brother John is interested in them."
When John heard Zhao Hai, he didn't understand what was going on at first. However, he was very clear about Zhao Hai's Haven Rice. This product has received minor fame inside Rosen Empire. No matter who received the rights to sell those Haven products, they would surely gain good profit. Zhao Hai was clearly doing this to help him.
John was filled with gratitude as he looked at Zhao Hai, "I thank Brother Zhao Hai. I will not lie to brother, His Highness has been keeping my family up these past few years. I'm afraid that I've already incurred a huge debt. Brother's help is surely heaven sent."
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "My grain business isn't something that His Highness wanted to sell. So I don't have a good distribution point inside Rosen Empire. Since I'm looking for a person to partner with, might as well have someone from my own side, so that good fortune won't flow towards another person's yard."
Charlie laughed and said, "Good, what Little Hai said is was really good. Not making fortune flow into another person's yard. I was going to say something along the lines of that. Remember, we are all family. If we succeed in the future, then I, Charlie, will vow that i will never forget to treat everybody well."
The people present immediately gave their thanks to Charlie. People on the continent rarely make any vows. Charlie doing this convinced them that he really valued them very much.
After Charlie asked them to sit down, another person, the head of the Heller Family, Tahl, said, "If his highness want to let others shift their attention away from us, there is a way. We can fake an internal dispute. What does His Highness think?"