Chapter 219: Qiao Baishi and His Conflict with His Future Mother-In-Law
Three days later, a matter so significant occurred that it rocked the entire Skylaurel Kingdom.
Fourth prince Ye Rong was officially vested as the Crown Prince, becoming the heir to the Skylaurel kingdom.
All the various struggles and interplay regarding the position of Crown Prince became history from then on. Although the clan of Ye Dai’s mother was strong, it was a strength built on the premise of having an heir to the kingdom.
Now that Ye Dai had perished in the maze realm, that so-called greatness had all become but mere smoke.
In order to ensure that Ye Rong’s position as Crown Prince would be stable, the royal family began to strip away the power from the clan of Ye Dai’s mother. They, and even some of the powers behind second prince Ye Qiao, slowly faded out of the capital.
This was to create momentum for the Crown Prince and remove the obstacles in front of his feet, paving the way for him!
Since the Crown Prince had been decided, there was no need for any opposing powers. Those tumors naturally had to be cleared away.
Jiang Chen felt sincerely happy for Ye Rong. Just like Ye Rong had said, he and Ye Rong were actually both gold buried in sand.
Now that Ye Rong had emerged as a piece of true gold from the yellow sands, he’d turned into a sparkling, distinguishable gold.
Ye Rong’s first act as Crown Prince was to reward his confidantes and followers.
As his greatest harbinger of fortune, Jiang Chen was awarded with the position of a second rank noble and enjoyed all accompanying privileges.
To the Jiang family, although their power and influence had yet to reach the peak they’d had in the Eastern Kingdom, this was already quite impressive for a family who’d arrived in the Skylaurel Kingdom a mere half a year ago.
After the public investiture ceremony, Jiang Chen and the Jiang family finally officially set foot in the noble circles of the Skylaurel Kingdom and became an existence known to every household throughout the kingdom.
All sorts of versions regarding the relationship between Jiang Chen and Ye Rong arose, making him out to be more impressive even than the gods.
However, the rumor mills didn’t have to go to great efforts as merely having the Skylaurel Kingdom Medallion was enough to have everyone in the kingdom pay homage to him.
As for how Jiang Chen had helped Ye Rong to his position, how he’d helped Ye Rong take out his other competitors within the maze realms, numerous versions of those stories abounded. Each was as if the teller had been present and had seen things with their own eyes.
Naturally, none of these tales came even close to the truth.
Naturally, Jiang Chen paid no heed to the rumors from the outside world. Whether it was a fourth rank or second rank noble, in the end, it was only to find a safe place to settle down for the Jiang family.
Jiang Chen didn’t give much thought to mundane wealth and fortune.
Jiang Chen had just returned from outside one day when the guard at the door reported, “Young master, a Dragonteeth Guard is outside and seeks an audience.”
“Dragonteeth Guard?” Jiang Chen started. “Send him in.”
The Dragonteeth Guard usually rarely acted alone. Was it Tian Shao? But Tian Shao was a common visitor to the Jiang family, his men would’ve definitely recognized him.
After coming in, Jiang Chen discovered that it was actually Tang Long who had come!
“Young master Chen.” Tang Long was actually a bit reserved after coming through the door. He rubbed his hands down his sides, as if not quite sure where to place them.
He’d been in the Guard for two months now and had finally figured his way around things. He often heard the name Jiang Chen when chatting with his comrades.
However, if anyone asked him about Jiang Chen’s matters, he would usually gloss it over with a laugh and a smile. In his comrade’s eyes, Tang Long definitely had some relations with Jiang Chen to be able to receive the position of a sixth rank Guard as soon as he’d entered the Dragonteeth Guard.
Except, Tang Long knew quite well that he really didn’t have much to do with Jiang Chen. To be frank, he’d only ever seen Jiang Chen once. All other matters had occurred because Jiang Chen had casually deigned to offer a helping hand.
The aid from those carefree actions however, had changed his entire life.
Therefore, Tang Long was grateful to Jiang Chen from the bottom of his heart. He’d always wanted to find a chance to visit Jiang Chen and express his thanks.
However, thanks to his low self confidence, he was afraid that he’d be looked down upon by Jiang Chen and his men if he visited with empty hands.
He’d hemmed and hawed for two months until he’d managed to scrape some money and buy something. He’d then finally mustered his courage and come to visit.
“Good man, you look absolutely different with the Dragonteeth Guard uniform on you.” Jiang Chen chuckled. “How’s your little brother doing?”
“He… He can walk normally now. He only spends some time on the wheelchair because his body is a bit weak. It will take him some time to completely recover.”
“Mm, that would take some time for one to recover and adjust.” Jiang Chen nodded and looked at what Tang Long had brought. He smiled, “Don’t bring anything with you next time you come find me, or else I’ll have my men sweep you out the door. You said you earned a bit of money, then buy more stuff for your woman. She’s a good woman and you should cherish her.”
“Yes, yes.” Tang Long hastened to nod repeatedly.
“Mm. I’ll accept it this time, but this should not occur again. So, how does it feel after two months in the Dragonteeth Guard?”
“Everything is quite good. My comrades are all very nice to me.” Tang Long started laughing in a silly fashion as he scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. “Everyone thinks I’m good friends with young master Chen and so gives way to me in many places.”
Jiang Chen chuckled heartily, “You and I have interacted so many times, it’d be nice to call you my friend. You’re someone who Tian Shao has recruited into the Dragonteeth Guard. Tian Shao has unlimited potential. He may even advance to the position of grand director of the Dragonteeth Guard. You should follow him closely.”
“Yes, I’ll go about my business properly so that I don’t lose face for General Tian.”
Tang Long suddenly remembered something as he spoke and gathered his courage to speak, “Young master Chen, I think there’s a matter that I should tell you.”
“What is it?”
“The last time we went on an outing to conduct a mission, I happened to hear the disciples of the four great sites discuss something, saying that some sort of heavenly treasure was about to emerge in some mountain valley of the Southern Palace. It’s said that many Precious Tree Sect disciples know of this matter and are making their moves.”
“Heavenly treasure?” Jiang Chen smiled. “What kind of heavenly treasure can exist in this mundane world?”
Tang Long smiled in a simple and honest way, “I don’t know either, I only heard them talking about it. But if even the Sect disciples are interested in this, it likely won’t be fake intelligence?”
Tang Long’s intentions were actually quite simple. He purely felt that this intelligence may be of use to young master Chen. Out of a sense of gratitude to him, he felt that he should notify Jiang Chen of this news.
The sound of footsteps rang out on the other side of the door at this moment. Xue Tong walked in.
“Young master, Qiao Baishi requests to see you.”
Xue Tong also started when he saw Tang Long, “You?”
Tang Long also had an impression of Xue Tong, but his face changed slightly when he took a look at Xue Tong. “You… last time I saw you, were you not only a true qi master? You’re now at the peak of a true qi masters?”
Only a short amount of time had passed, no wonder Tang Long was so surprised.
Xue tong smiled and looked at Tang Long’s uniform. “You’re also doing quite well for yourself, you’ve made it into the Dragonteeth Guard.”
Jiang Chen had merely lifted a finger to help Tang Long, so he’d never mentioned the man to his men.
“Tang Long, since you’ve come, have a drink with us. Xue Tong, tell Baishi to go to the back yard.”
Tang Long’s emotions had been a bit muddled during this visit and he was feeling rather uneasy. He subconsciously wanted to flee when Jiang Chen invited him in for a drink.
But Xue Tong didn’t allow him to protest as he pulled on his arm, “Old Tang, don’t stand on ceremony now that you’re here. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for your enthusiastic introduction of the things in the Skylaurel Kingdom when we’d just arrived, we might have really met our downfall at the hands of the Northern Palace.”
Tang Long was slightly embarrassed, “That was just a small act. Besides, young master Chen gave me such a good pill.”
“Don’t be so formal.” Xue Tong patted Tang Long’s shoulder. “Come, all my other brothers are here. You know them as well.”
A banquet held at home was naturally very casual.
Although Tang Long was a bit restrained, the presence of the sillies Qiao Shan and Qiao Chuan in Jiang Chen’s personal guards made it easy to get to know everyone. Not long after, Tang Long had mingled in with the crowd.
Except, Qiao Baishi didn’t seem particularly happy.
“Baishi, what’s wrong? You don’t seem very into this. Is it that men in love become more sentimental?” Jiang Chen joked.
Qiao Baishi smiled wryly, “Young master Chen, to be honest, I hadn’t thought that I would develop anything with Elder Ning when you had me go to the Southern Palace. Perhaps it was fate from our past lives that she would look favorably upon someone like me, coming from a small place. However, the head of the Southern Palace has given an edict lately that ordered Elder Ning to cut off all relations with me.”
“Why is that?” Jiang Chen felt it odd.
“They’re probably looking down on me for coming from a small place and without a great backer. They think I have no future and am not a suitable match for Elder Ning.”
“That’s bullshit!” Jiang Chen was greatly enraged. Qiao Baishi was his disciple. Who the hell was that head of the Southern Palace to disdain one of his disciples?
“Is this head a man or a woman?”
“Woman, and Elder Ning’s birth mother at that. Very few people in the outside world knows this, Elder Ning told me this in private.”
“This…” Jiang Chen was a bit speechless. If it was only the head of the Southern Palace, then she was merely a supervisor. If it came down to it, Elder Ning could just quit.
But since it was Elder Ning’s birth mother, this made things a bit tricky.
The conflict between a mother-in-law and son-in-law was one of the most difficult problems to tackle beneath the heavens.
“How does Elder Ning feel about this?” Jiang Chen asked.
“Her attitude has been quite resolute as she’s continuously fought against her mother’s will.”
“Then there’s no problem. As long as Elder Ning holds on, all will be fine. She’s just a mother-in-law, at the end of the day. Baishi, you’ve seen many things in your time, can you not even handle an old hag?”
Qiao Baishi smiled ruefully, he’d never met such a matter before either, so he really didn’t know what to do.
“Young master, I have no clues what to do right now and seek guidance from you.”
“There’s no guidance to give. Go ask that head what conditions does she want and just handle them! Don’t you know to use the Four Seasons Eternal Spring Pill to handle an old hag?”
Qiao Baishi started and a light shimmered in his eyes afterwards, “That’s right, how did I forget this bit?”
Using the Four Seasons Pill was a trump card against old women!
“Of course, just the pill alone won’t be enough. Just have her list whatever conditions she has. The Southern Palace is just a mundane sect for the Precious Tree Sect. There’s nothing about it. Baishi, don’t have an inferiority complex. Remember, when you want to have marital relations with the Southern Palace, it’s they who are out of their league, not you. Don’t get this backwards, if you do, don’t say you know me in the future!”